OT: Air Asia X to fly to Christchurch
Dec 1, 2010, 4:20 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2000
Posts: 1,424
OT: Air Asia X to fly to Christchurch
http://www.airasia.com/nl/nl101201yapv_sg.htm
http://www.aviationrecord.com/Cargo/...-KL-route.aspx
Sale fares are 89 SGD or 99 NZD on Friday, midday (NZST or NZDT?)
http://www.aviationrecord.com/Cargo/...-KL-route.aspx
Low cost carrier AirAsia X will be adding the international route from Kuala Lumpur to Christchurch to their service network.
The airline will extend its service to New Zealand with four direct weekly services between its Kuala Lumpur hub in Malaysia and Christchurch from April 1, 2011.
The airline will extend its service to New Zealand with four direct weekly services between its Kuala Lumpur hub in Malaysia and Christchurch from April 1, 2011.
Dec 1, 2010, 5:15 pm
#2
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Christchurch, New Zealand
Programs: NZ Elite; QF Platinum; CZ Gold; MU Platinum; Marriott Titanium; Accor Platinum
Posts: 1,467
was the at launch event on Cathedral Square where the Mayor and Air Asia CEO gave away a number of free tickets and many local VIPs attended the after function (councillors, tourism chiefs etc.) and also spotted some of the CEOs of other airports (Dunedin, Hamilton).
The city and airport are very much behind this launch and believe it will be very beneficial so it will be interesting to see how it goes and what impact (if any) it will have on other carriers.
To bring it back to this forum, I wonder if it will worry Air NZ at all? I know personally i will certainly try its Premium Class with the lie flat beds for a flight to Asia, maybe London... I guess how good (or bad!) it is will determine whether it has any longer term impact on my travel plans. On the other hand, i don't see myself suffering through its economy product anytime soon (although is it any worse than jetstar/ pac blue?)!
The city and airport are very much behind this launch and believe it will be very beneficial so it will be interesting to see how it goes and what impact (if any) it will have on other carriers.
To bring it back to this forum, I wonder if it will worry Air NZ at all? I know personally i will certainly try its Premium Class with the lie flat beds for a flight to Asia, maybe London... I guess how good (or bad!) it is will determine whether it has any longer term impact on my travel plans. On the other hand, i don't see myself suffering through its economy product anytime soon (although is it any worse than jetstar/ pac blue?)!
Dec 1, 2010, 8:17 pm
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2000
Posts: 1,424
Jetstar has 500 seats on sale from Auckland to Kuala Lumpur (via Singapore) for just $99!*
Sale fares are for travel on selected days between 10 May - 6 July 2011 and not available Fridays, Saturdays or Sundays. On sale until midnight Thursday 2 December 2010, unless sold out prior.
Sale fares are for travel on selected days between 10 May - 6 July 2011 and not available Fridays, Saturdays or Sundays. On sale until midnight Thursday 2 December 2010, unless sold out prior.
Dec 2, 2010, 3:00 am
#5
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Dec 2, 2010, 4:28 am
#6
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Jetstar and Air Asia X both vindicate Air NZ's strategy of pushing for more C and PE traffic, and shrinking the number of Y seats (on 77W replacing the 747s).
NZ can't compete on price with the likes of the other two, but bear in mind where they deliver you to.
Jetstar gets you to SIN and a few other Asian destinations, but NZ's presence in Asia is about Asian origin traffic from China and Japan, and using those ports as hubs for onwards *A routes. Jetstar to China or Japan is a circuitous route, and will only cannibalise low value NZ tourists. It will hurt SQ more, but then SQ's business in NZ is based on hubbing through SIN onwards to multiple destinations in Europe (I used to fly AKL/CHC-SIN-ZRH for several years). SQ also has an excellent reputation, a competitive cost base, gets a little loyalty from NZ Airpoints Members despite poor accrual, so at worst may simply drop the odd day from the 77E flights (which have no 1st and no Spacebed so are not really aimed at high yielding business travellers).
Air Asia X can't survive on NZ-KUL traffic only, for obvious reasons (although it wont help MH but then it likewise relies on hubbing). However if it can get STN and ORY -CHC through bookings it may have some success.
Bear in mind that EK will also get affected by this, because Air Asia X offers one stop to Europe, rather than two stop.
Of course, when the first anecdotes of longhaul on Air Asia X come out, with 9 abreast in an A330 in economy, then it may be seen that people get what they pay for.
NZ with Skycouches, more interesting food service and 33" pitch may be seen in a better light, although I doubt the 10 abreast in 77Ws (17.1 inch seat width according to SeatGuru) (and probably 77Es once retrofitted) will contribute to the image NZ wants to give of being full value economy class.
NZ can't compete on price with the likes of the other two, but bear in mind where they deliver you to.
Jetstar gets you to SIN and a few other Asian destinations, but NZ's presence in Asia is about Asian origin traffic from China and Japan, and using those ports as hubs for onwards *A routes. Jetstar to China or Japan is a circuitous route, and will only cannibalise low value NZ tourists. It will hurt SQ more, but then SQ's business in NZ is based on hubbing through SIN onwards to multiple destinations in Europe (I used to fly AKL/CHC-SIN-ZRH for several years). SQ also has an excellent reputation, a competitive cost base, gets a little loyalty from NZ Airpoints Members despite poor accrual, so at worst may simply drop the odd day from the 77E flights (which have no 1st and no Spacebed so are not really aimed at high yielding business travellers).
Air Asia X can't survive on NZ-KUL traffic only, for obvious reasons (although it wont help MH but then it likewise relies on hubbing). However if it can get STN and ORY -CHC through bookings it may have some success.
Bear in mind that EK will also get affected by this, because Air Asia X offers one stop to Europe, rather than two stop.
Of course, when the first anecdotes of longhaul on Air Asia X come out, with 9 abreast in an A330 in economy, then it may be seen that people get what they pay for.
NZ with Skycouches, more interesting food service and 33" pitch may be seen in a better light, although I doubt the 10 abreast in 77Ws (17.1 inch seat width according to SeatGuru) (and probably 77Es once retrofitted) will contribute to the image NZ wants to give of being full value economy class.
Dec 2, 2010, 4:57 am
#7
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If the seat width is what I've read (15.7") then I don't see how the average Kiwi will even fit (I certainly doubt I would), much less deal with 10 hours of long haul flying.
Dec 2, 2010, 11:59 am
#8
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Christchurch, New Zealand
Programs: NZ Elite; QF Platinum; CZ Gold; MU Platinum; Marriott Titanium; Accor Platinum
Posts: 1,467
Jetstar and Air Asia X both vindicate Air NZ's strategy of pushing for more C and PE traffic, and shrinking the number of Y seats (on 77W replacing the 747s).
NZ can't compete on price with the likes of the other two, but bear in mind where they deliver you to.
Jetstar gets you to SIN and a few other Asian destinations, but NZ's presence in Asia is about Asian origin traffic from China and Japan, and using those ports as hubs for onwards *A routes. Jetstar to China or Japan is a circuitous route, and will only cannibalise low value NZ tourists. It will hurt SQ more, but then SQ's business in NZ is based on hubbing through SIN onwards to multiple destinations in Europe (I used to fly AKL/CHC-SIN-ZRH for several years). SQ also has an excellent reputation, a competitive cost base, gets a little loyalty from NZ Airpoints Members despite poor accrual, so at worst may simply drop the odd day from the 77E flights (which have no 1st and no Spacebed so are not really aimed at high yielding business travellers).
Air Asia X can't survive on NZ-KUL traffic only, for obvious reasons (although it wont help MH but then it likewise relies on hubbing). However if it can get STN and ORY -CHC through bookings it may have some success.
Bear in mind that EK will also get affected by this, because Air Asia X offers one stop to Europe, rather than two stop.
Of course, when the first anecdotes of longhaul on Air Asia X come out, with 9 abreast in an A330 in economy, then it may be seen that people get what they pay for.
NZ with Skycouches, more interesting food service and 33" pitch may be seen in a better light, although I doubt the 10 abreast in 77Ws (17.1 inch seat width according to SeatGuru) (and probably 77Es once retrofitted) will contribute to the image NZ wants to give of being full value economy class.
NZ can't compete on price with the likes of the other two, but bear in mind where they deliver you to.
Jetstar gets you to SIN and a few other Asian destinations, but NZ's presence in Asia is about Asian origin traffic from China and Japan, and using those ports as hubs for onwards *A routes. Jetstar to China or Japan is a circuitous route, and will only cannibalise low value NZ tourists. It will hurt SQ more, but then SQ's business in NZ is based on hubbing through SIN onwards to multiple destinations in Europe (I used to fly AKL/CHC-SIN-ZRH for several years). SQ also has an excellent reputation, a competitive cost base, gets a little loyalty from NZ Airpoints Members despite poor accrual, so at worst may simply drop the odd day from the 77E flights (which have no 1st and no Spacebed so are not really aimed at high yielding business travellers).
Air Asia X can't survive on NZ-KUL traffic only, for obvious reasons (although it wont help MH but then it likewise relies on hubbing). However if it can get STN and ORY -CHC through bookings it may have some success.
Bear in mind that EK will also get affected by this, because Air Asia X offers one stop to Europe, rather than two stop.
Of course, when the first anecdotes of longhaul on Air Asia X come out, with 9 abreast in an A330 in economy, then it may be seen that people get what they pay for.
NZ with Skycouches, more interesting food service and 33" pitch may be seen in a better light, although I doubt the 10 abreast in 77Ws (17.1 inch seat width according to SeatGuru) (and probably 77Es once retrofitted) will contribute to the image NZ wants to give of being full value economy class.
Once price becomes their main selling point, the logical non frequent flying customer will just choose the lowest price. And if you are a family of four going to Europe and you can fly the whole family for under $4k round trip, thats got to be pretty attractive. And also NZ dropped long haul flights out of Christchurch so its not like they value the market anyway. Air Asia X now offers a connecting service to certain destinations, if they can offer that to London then with the many families here who hail from the UK, that has to be a serious option for them. If these people travel once a year, they wont even know about the small seats, they will just deal with it, I would guess.
For savvier travelers, the premium cabin will likely offer very good value (lets see what the pricing is like). I have been speaking to quite a few people who are frequent international travelers in premium cabins who at least want to give the premium cabin on Asia X a try. and even though they dont have lounges both KL LCCT, CHC and Stansted have pay lounges, They do offer priority check in and a angled flat seat.
Re SQ, well, I personally think their Y product is massively overrated anyway, the hype does not match the reality, and as you point out their J is the old angled seats, so I would consider Air Asia X, on the face of it, to offer a compelling product compared to them...
Fares come on sale today so lets see if I can bag a deal in Premium and I can post a review on FT!
Dec 2, 2010, 1:51 pm
#10
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Christchurch, New Zealand
Programs: NZ Elite; QF Platinum; CZ Gold; MU Platinum; Marriott Titanium; Accor Platinum
Posts: 1,467
travel agents already onto it
Received this in email this am from House of travel. interesting to see they are bundling Air Asia flights into packages. Prices are pretty awesome.
AirAsia X has landed and we have our favourite 4 star Asia holidays at record low prices on sale from midday today!
Take your pick from these amazing deals:
Phuket from $799 for 7 nights and flights
Penang from $899 for 7 nights and flights
Bali from $1049 for 7 nights and flights
AirAsia X has landed and we have our favourite 4 star Asia holidays at record low prices on sale from midday today!
Take your pick from these amazing deals:
Phuket from $799 for 7 nights and flights
Penang from $899 for 7 nights and flights
Bali from $1049 for 7 nights and flights
Dec 2, 2010, 5:04 pm
#14
Join Date: Nov 2010
Programs: Air NZ Gold
Posts: 41
I think their premium offering could be some serious competition to Air NZ. I had a look for various dates in June/July and a one way fare to Paris was only $1600 with a seat which almost lies flat (They market it as lie flat but if you see the pictures your head is elevated several inches above your feet. Not as good as Business, but better than PE). If you are talking $3200-$3500 return with those kinds of seats and with it also including luggage, meals, and priority boarding then it could be well worth it. In comparison, you would have to pay $5500 for PE on Air NZ which would be an inferior seat option.
Dec 2, 2010, 5:34 pm
#15
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Auckland NZ
Programs: NZ Air Points (Gold Elite), Velocity (Platinum), Emirates (Gold)
Posts: 607
The problem is that I've read many people say that they don't get any meals despite prepurchasing them and their seat requests were not honored. I don't know how much these complaints show the general experience of passengers, but there are enough people saying it that would make me wonder. Just wanted to let you know. One person said that their flight to Paris ran out of food mid-way through - not even any snacks left. So bring your own food on board just in case. (Another person said that they don't allow people to bring their own food on board - I would be hiding it if that is the case.)