Saturday, November 10, 2007

AirAsia X Flies to Gold Coast


AirAsia X, the long-haul budget airline and a sister company of the original AirAsia, has launched its inaugural flight from KL to Gold Coast.

With just one aircraft – a leased Airbus A330-300, the AirAsia X offers four flights a week to Gold Coast. When interviewed by the The Star’s reporter, chief Azran Osman Rani said,
“It’s going to be great. With one plane, I won’t have to worry about planes sitting idle on the runway.”
(The Star, BW13, Nov 3, 2007)

Just ONE aircraft
What will happen if it breaks down

My parents, sister, brother-in-law and two nephews visited Gold Coast recently. (They flew from Singapore.) The Qantas plane which they were in was unable to take off. Qantas put the passengers in a later flight and arranged for the accommodation of that night in Traders Hotel. On top of that, the airline also compensated the passengers.

I am not sure what AirAsia X will do if similar thing happens to them. Chances are, passengers will need to postpone their flights until the only aircraft of the budget airline is fully repaired. That may take more than one day. Or AirAsiaX may refund, but that won't save our vacation plan
. And if the airline offers to pay for accommodation, it will be in Tony Fernandes’s Tune Hotel.

But there is a bigger concern. If AirAsia X can’t send its only plane to hangar for maintenance and service, will the risk of air tragedy increase


Mr Datuk Fernandes, please do not compromise on air safety.

4 comments:

  1. curryegg,
    Yeah safety first. But AirAsia X's price can be tempting. How should I choose? :(

    (Eh... I think expenses in Gold Coast is too high for me...)

    ReplyDelete
  2. If the plane is new and the price is right, why not, eh? Besides, I believe when a person or how a person dies is already in the stars. So, live!

    ReplyDelete
  3. happy,
    AirAsia X's plane is leased, so it is not new.

    ReplyDelete