Malaysian budget carrier upbeat on travel despite global recession

TIANJIN, People’s Republic of China - Shrugging off the worldwide economic crunch, Malaysian budget carrier AirAsia will continue its aggressive expansion and seek to open new routes in cities in China, India and Europe from its base in Kuala Lumpur this year through 2010.

Tony Fernandes, AirAsia group chief executive officer, said that the low-cost carrier’s steady pursuit of its growth plans was fuelled by their belief that people in Asia, especially in the Southeast Asian region, will continue to travel despite the global recession.

Fernandes pointed out that while oil prices and airfares skyrocketed in 2008, AirAsia still enjoyed high passenger volumes and strong revenues in a year that was a very difficult one for many airlines all over the globe.

“The recession hasn’t affected us,” Fernandes told Asian transport journalists in a press conference held at the Sheraton Tianjin Hotel recently to celebrate the airline’s new Kuala Lumpur to Tianjin inaugural flight last April 2.

“People still want to travel. They’re just looking for better value. And we in AirAsia have given, and will continue to give them that,” Fernandes said.

For AirAsia, Fernandes said, they were keeping their strategy of opening new routes in China, India, Europe and Australia to tap into the potential demand of people who wish to travel and see new places.

“We will continue to create new markets, creating new demand,” Fernandes said.

In the case of their new KL to Tianjin route, Fernandes said that it was a prime example of their optimism in the growth prospects of the international travel industry.

It was learned that the budget carrier will package their KL to Tianjin flight as a backdoor entry into neighboring Beijing which continues to draw millions of tourists to its top draw attractions such as the Forbidden City, the Great Wall of China, the Summer Palace and the modern Olympic Park that features the Water Cube and the Bird’s Nest Stadium that were the main venues during last year’s Beijing Olympics.

Fernandes said that while they are starting with five flights a week, he expects the particular route to grow much in the next few years. In the next five years, he sees the possibility of increasing the frequencies to even three to four flights a day.

“When you give the low fares, people find a way to get to these places. It won’t happen overnight but with the tremendous support of the (Tianjin City) government, this route could become AirAsia’s most successful route,” Fernandes said.

It was learned that the ultra-modern high speed rail that connects Tianjin to Beijing has become a tourist attraction in itself, able to transport passengers between the two cities over a distance of more than 120 kilometers in just 30 minutes.