Oh-la-la! It seems from press reports Air Asia X is preparing to make an attack on France, with a route from Paris Orly to Kuala Lumpur LCT according to Le Figaro.
Reports indicate this will be a twice weekly flights between Paris Orly and Kuala Lumpur, with ap possiblitiy of services starting soon to next year depending on who you belive. Reports also indicate that Air Asia X would like to operate up to four flights a week depending on aircraft and avaliblity.
This introduces direct competiton with the incumbant Maylasian Airlines.
Part of the reason of using Orly is of the current range of low cost carriers that connections can be made to there, as well as handling lots of France’s domestic traffic. Of course connections can be made with Air Asia in Kuala Lumpur for Asia and Australia. Which is nice.
There are a few issues to iron out, namely the lack of aircraft that can do the job. The A340’s are currently committed to London routes, so this will mean either Air Asia X will need to get hold of another A340, or utilise one of it’s A330 fleet with a stopoff in the Middle East to get fuel. Previous ventures into Middle East Air Asia X has made makes Abu Dhabi a hot candidate for this (and possibly a source of more revenue with tag on flights for both segments)
It’ll be interesting to see what Air Asia X does, and when it annouces the tickets for sale. And then there’s still the small fact that Air Asia X had an A340 painted up in LA Raiders livery. That means America is still on the radar for them…
