OAG Travel News

While attending one of the largest aviation conferences of the year last week in Kuala Lumpur, I had the opportunity to fly Malaysian low-cost carrier AirAsia.  After traveling nearly 12,000 miles from my home to Malaysia for the conference and associated meetings, I decided to spend a few extra days exploring the area.  I chose to visit the Malaysian island chain of Langkawi, located on the Malaysia-Thailand border in the Andaman Sea.

Booking my ticket on AirAsia’s Web site was quite easy – and inexpensive.  A round-trip ticket from Kuala Lumpur to Langkawi was the equivalent of US$60.  Too good to be true, right?  Partially, as you’ll find out shortly.

AirAsia operates from the Low-Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).  Taxi drivers in Kuala Lumpur consider the LCCT to be a separate airport from KLIA and charge extra to drive to the LCCT.  Although I insisted it was the same airport due to the simple fact that airlines operating at the LCCT use the same runways as those operating at KLIA, I did not win the argument.

The check-in counter is where the cost of my ticket increased.  AirAsia allows one checked bag with a maximum weight of 15 kilograms.  Having attended a business conference, I had quite a bit of excess baggage with me.  In the end, the cost to check all of my luggage was more than the price of my ticket.  I shouldn’t have been surprised – all of the details are clearly outlined on AirAsia’s Web site.  And, charging for excess luggage is not a new concept in the industry, although it has been reserved for the lowest of the low-cost carriers and has only recently become commonplace in the U.S. domestic market.

Boarding was fast and easy – everyone lined up at once and, walked out onto the ramp and climbed air stairs to the Airbus A320.  Umbrellas were available in the case of rain, which occurs quite often in equatorial Malaysia.  I was familiar with the no assigned seating concept from my experiences on Southwest Airlines.  As a frequent traveler, I’m usually the one that tries to reserve the emergency exit row when I am traveling in economy class.  Seemingly the majority of the passengers aboard my AirAsia flight were not so inclined.  Even though I boarded in the middle of the pack, the exit rows remained empty by the time I was on board, and I had my choice of seats with extra legroom.  And, of course, the extra responsibility that accompanies sitting in the exit row.

The atmosphere during the flight was casual and relaxed.  Music played almost continuously, and beverages and food were offered for a small charge, even less if you had ordered you food online prior to the flight.  All in all, it was a very pleasant experience, with one glaring exception – the transfer from the LCCT to KLIA.  That process – which included waiting for 30 minutes to load onto a dirty, unairconditioned bus that did not have luggage racks or proper luggage storage – definitely needs improvement by Malaysia Airports, the operator of both the LCCT and KLIA.

AirAsia’s tag line is “Now Everyone Can Travel.”  And they’re well on their way to reaching this goal.  AirAsia began service in 2002, and today the carrier accounts for one-third of total capacity at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, ranking second only behind flag-carrier Malaysia Airlines.  AirAsia provides an average of 102 daily departures from Kuala Lumpur to 44 destinations in Malyasia, Indonesia, Thailand, China, the Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam, Brunei, Laos and Singapore.  Additional city-pairs not routed through the Kuala Lumpur hub are also part of the carrier’s network.

At the same time, the passenger traffic at Kuala Lumpur has increased nearly 40 percent between 2003 and 2006, much of which can be attributed to the stimulation of passenger traffic by the new low-cost entrant AirAsia.

Upon returning home, I did a bit more research on AirAsia.  I was not surprised to learn that it is partially owned by an ex-Ryanair manager.  This European low-cost juggernaut changed travel in Europe, and is now its leaders are changing travel in Asia.  The owners have launched two similar joint-ventures in Thailand (Thai AirAsia) and Indonesia (Indonesia AirAsia) with a third in Korea (Incheon AirAsia) under development. 

In addition, the concept has expanded to include long-haul services on AirAsia X, branded as the “world’s first truly low-cost, long-haul airline”.  Operating as a franchise agreement with AirAsia with partial ownership by UK-based Virgin Group, AirAsia X currently provides service to destinations in Australia and China, with plans to grow to serve 45 destinations.  AirAsia X operates Airbus A330 aircraft.

AirAsia, too, has aggressive expansion plans.  With 175 Airbus A320s on order, the carrier – according to its Web site – plans to “become and ASEAN brand”.  Given what I saw and experienced, I wouldn’t doubt their ability to achieve this goal.

Source: Official Airline Guide (OAG) Schedule Tapes; Data comparison for October 2002 through October 2008; Malaysia Airports Web site (for KLIA passenger traffic numbers); AirAsia Web site and news releases.

OAG contributor Laura Jackson was just two weeks old when she took her first flight on Piedmont Airlines.  In junior high school, she developed a business plan for her own airline.  Today she manages strategy and policy issues at one of the world's busiest airports and provides original content and aviation industry analysis for OAG.