First Airasia Guests From London Arrive To Rousing Cultural Affair
On hand to welcome the first guests were AirAsia Regional Head of Operations Mr Bo Lingam and Tourism Malaysia Senior Deputy Director International/ Marketing Division (Americas/ Europe/ Oceania) Puan Maizan Ahmad.
Former Manchester United David May and former Liverpool Phil Babb were among the 216 guests onboard AirAsia X's flight D7 2007. May and Babb are scheduled to make a special appearance at the ‘Stadium Viewing Party' of the Manchester United vs Liverpool match at the Sunway Lagoon Amphitheatre on Saturday 14 March 2009. The party starts from 6.30 pm and is open to the public.
AirAsia's first flight between Kuala Lumpur and London took off yesterday at 9.00 am and touched down at London Stansted 2.40 pm (UK time). On arrival in London the guests, including the Secretary General of the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) HE Dr Surin Pitsuwan and the British High Commissioner to Malaysia HE Boyd McCleary, were received by the Duke of York Prince Andrew and AirAsia Group CEO Dato' Sri Tony Fernandes.
Also on the flight to London were AirAsia X Chairman Dato' Seri Kalimullah Hassan, CEO Azran Osman-Rani and AirAsia Group Deputy CEO Dato' Kamarudin Meranun.
The maiden flight marks a significant history by being the first low-cost, long haul service connecting the UK and Europe to Asia. The new service initially operating five direct flights per week, provides guests with access via AirAsia's Kuala Lumpur international hub, to 64 destinations around South East Asia, China, Australia, India and Bangladesh.
The Kuala Lumpur-London-Kuala Lumpur route marks has received an overwhelming response from travellers between Australia and Europe. Dubbed the ‘Kangaroo Route', AirAsia X provides a very affordable connectivity from London to Australian cities of Perth, Melbourne and the Gold Coast, with Kuala Lumpur as the hub.
In support of sustainable development and bridging communities through low fares, AirAsia X has partnered the National University of Malaysia (Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia - UKM) through its UKM-Global Student Mobility Partnerships student exchange programme. At least 10 students from the UK have signed up for the programme and will fly AirAsia X to Kuala Lumpur in June 2009.
For more information, log on to www.airasia.com. For added convenience, guests may also book via mobile devices by logging in to mobile.airasia.com.
FLIGHT SCHEDULE FOR KUALA LUMPUR - LONDON (STANSTED) - KUALA LUMPUR
Winter schedule (up to 28 March 2009)
Flights From | Departure/ Arrival | Flight No. | Frequency |
Kuala Lumpur - Stansted | 01:50 / 07:50 | D7 2002 | Tuesday |
10:00 / 16:00 | D7 2006 | Wednesday, Saturday | |
16:30 / 22:30 | D7 2008 | Thursday, Sunday | |
Stansted - Kuala Lumpur | 09:20 / 06:20 | D7 2003 | Tuesday |
17:30 / 14:30 | D7 2007 | Wednesday, Saturday | |
00:00 / 21:00 | D7 2009 | Monday, Friday |
Summer schedule (29 March 2009 - 31 October 2009)
Flights From | Departure/ Arrival | Flight No. | Frequency |
Kuala Lumpur - Stansted | 01:00 / 08:00 | D7 2002 | Tuesday |
09:45 / 16:45 | D7 2006 | Wednesday, Saturday | |
16:00 / 23:00 | D7 2008 | Thursday, Sunday | |
Stansted - Kuala Lumpur | 09:30 / 05:30 | D7 2003 | Tuesday |
18:15 / 14:15 | D7 2007 | Wednesday, Saturday | |
00:30 / 20:30 | D7 2009 | Monday, Friday |
***END***
About AirAsia X
AirAsia X, an associate of AirAsia with shareholders including the Virgin Group and AirAsia Berhad, is a low-cost long-haul airline launched in January 2007, and which commenced commercial services in November 2007. Having licensed its brand from AirAsia, AirAsia X's long-haul, low-cost business model is built on sustainable and continued delivery of everyday low fares. Currently it flies to Gold Coast, Melbourne, Perth in Australia and to Hangzhou (Shanghai) and Tianjin (Beijing) in China. AirAsia X aims to cover destinations which are more than four hours in flight duration from Kuala Lumpur, complementing the existing AirAsia network and offering daily point-to-point frequencies to popular destinations in Australia, North Asia, India, the Middle East and Europe. AirAsia X enhances the in-flight experience with a number of innovative services and comfortable seats new to the low-cost model. For more information, please log onto www.airasia.com
About AirAsia
With the tagline 'now everyone can fly', AirAsia's low fare is aimed to make flying affordable and convenient for everyone, introducing several ‘firsts' in Asia to fulfill their commitment to AirAsia guests. Its accolades include being the first in Asia to introduce innovative services like online ticketing (in 2002), and the first airline in the world to introduce SMS booking (in 2003) and to abolish fuel surcharges (2008) , as well as the introduction of Pick A Seat (in 2009), an innovative assigned seating for added choice and enhanced comfort.
AirAsia has also won several awards since their inception seven years ago, winning Airline of the Year from the Centre of Asia Pacific Aviation, winning the World Airline Award for Best Low Cost Carrier in Asia, as well as being nominated as one of the Top 50 Most Innovative Companies. The airline today is proud to be a truly ASEAN airline with its network stretching across 10 ASEAN countries, now including Singapore. For more information, please log on to www.airasia.com
Photos
Photos of this event are available at www.flickr.com/airasia
For further information, MEDIA please contact:
Hamdan Mohamad
Telephone : +603 8660 4265
Mobile : +6012 341 4164
Email : hamdanmohamad@airasia.com
Nazatul Ekma Mokhtar
Office No : +603 8660 4013
HP : +6012 616 5493
Email : nazatulekmamokhtar@airasia.com
