From http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/business/article/airasia-x-to-stop-london-paris-delhi-mumbai-services/
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 20 — AirAsia X could stop its popular budget flights to London, Paris, Delhi and Mumbai as early as next February due to mounting losses, sources said.
The Malaysian Insider understands that the long-haul budget carrier is losing as much as RM20 million a year on its London route.
“It’s not making money. It’s as simple as that,” a source told The Malaysian Insider.
The Business Times reported today that AirAsia X had written to the Ministry of Transport on its plans to withdraw the services to the four cities.
AirAsia X chief executive officer Azran Osman-Rani neither confirmed nor denied this to the business daily.
“I hereby confirm that AirAsia X has not made any decisions on our routes, whether to add new routes or cancel existing routes. Not least of which there has not been any approvals from Ministry of Transport,” he said via e-mail in response to questions sent to him.
Minister of Transport Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha did not respond to a text message on the matter, the newspaper said.
The newspaper added various reasons were cited for the withdrawal. These include the implementation of Emissions Trading privateScheme (ETS) over Europe come January 1 2012, visa restrictions and additional airport fees in India.
The European Union’s ETS scheme calls for airlines to pay up for carbon emissions it has not already accounted for. Come January 1, AirAsia X will charge a carbon offset surcharge of RM80 (return) for its flights to Europe.
The Indian market has been especially tough for AirAsia X given the visa restrictions for the market, which is believed to have driven passengers to use travel agents for their bookings.
AirAsia X, which started operating to Stansted Airport in March 2009, relocated to Gatwick in October this year. Flights to Paris Orly started this year.
The long-haul carrier has a fleet of 11 aircraft servicing 14 destinations.
These include destinations to Australia, Taiwan, South Korea, China, Iran, New Zealand, India and Japan.
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