The low-budget airline, AirAsia, based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, has announced it will be canceling all its AirAsia X flights to New Delhi, Mumbia, London and Paris by the end of March, 2012.
AirAsia's long-haul service, only in existence for the last two or three years, has not been profitable for the budget airline, particularly for flights to Europe, where high taxes like the UK's Air Passenger Duty (APD) have kept demand low.
Showing AirAsia is moving onwards and upwards though, and has learned from its mistakes, Tony Fernandes, the airline's owner, tweeted on Twitter this week;
“Pioneer AirAsia X is learning. It’s now got the magic formula and will soar. One aircraft type and the right range,”
The company had alread announced AirAsia had decided to cease flying to these long-haul markets, and concentrate on places like Korea, Japan, Australia and China in the future instead.
As a frequent AirAsia passenger, it's easy to see why the airline has made the decision they have. The beauty of AirAsia is the cheapness of the tickets, and the staff is lovely. The misery of the airline is services are minimal, and seating is small and cramped, with leg-room practically non-existent.
AirAsia also has a bad reputation for many of their flights leaving late. In fact, I've now flown AirAsia 37 times (I do love their cheap prices), and they've only managed to depart on time a dismal five of those times. If you ask anyone who has flown them, that's often par for the course.
Their website is also a disaster, and has been for a long time. They don't accept many US credit cards, bookings often don't go through and, it's such a nightmare to try to pay for a ticket, I've often given up and booked on another airline instead. Other passengers have the same problem, as you can see from the comments here.
As for flying to Europe from Kuala Lumpur, combine Air Asia's minimal service, cramped seats, difficulty of booking flights online, and a flight that's already two-hours late before it even sets off, and few passengers wanted to take that 12-hour flight to Europe. Not when other airlines, offering better service, aren't much more expensive.
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