AirAsia X Considers Adding Wellington and Christchurch Flights

28th Jan 2016

Malaysian low-cost long-haul airline AirAsia X has big plans for New Zealand and could add one or even two new routes – Christchurch and Wellington.

That is, if its new service to Auckland proves a success among travelers. The carrier announced earlier its return to NZ with KL-Auckland daily flights, via the Gold Coast as of 22^nd March 2016.

Right now, the Malaysian carrier is offering one-way Auckland-Kuala Lumpur flights via the Gold Coast for $249 and one-way Auckland-Gold Coast flights for $99.

Return to Christchurch Logical, Says Benyamin Ismail

If it decides to fly to Christchurch, this would be a return to this destination by AirAsia X, as it had a short flying stint there between April 2011 and May 2012. Afterwards, the airline decided to focus on Asia and Australia and cancelled the route.

According to Benyamin Ismail, AirAsia X chief executive, Christchurch would be a logical choice, but it’s not the only option.

The alternative, Ismail said, is to fly to Wellington four days per week.

Speaking about this, Ismail said:

I’m more than happy to explore that. There are a lot of other cities we can look at, but let’s build our brand first; once it’s strong then we can go seek other destinations.

Gold Coast-Auckland Route is Already Busy

Of course, once AirAsia X arrives to the Gold Coast-Auckland route and starts flying it, the airline will see that it’s already quite busy with three other companies flying it – Air New Zealand, Jetstar and Virgin Australia.

Combined these three offers around 7000 seats per week and operate 20 flights, mostly using narrow-body aircrafts.

Asians More Interested in Auckland than New Zealanders

When it comes to Auckland–Kuala Lumpur, at the moment it seems that the Asian travelers are much more interested in exploring this option than their counterparts from New Zealand.

Ismail said the following about it:

About 70 per cent of our load is coming from Asia. Out of Auckland, not as much, but I think it’s all about building that brand.

Meanwhile, AirAsia Indonesia could also start flying non-stop to Auckland from Bali. Since a direct route would likely be too expensive, the service would go via Gold Coast.