Malaysian low-cost carrier AirAsia X will launch flights between Sydney and Auckland in November 2022, bringing with it cheap Economy fares and Premium Flatbed seats at the front of the plane.
The fifth-freedom flight across the Tasman will be a continuation of AirAsia’s Kuala Lumpur-Sydney service, which briefly restarted in February this year after a two-year break due to COVID-19 but was suspended again two months later. When AirAsia returns to Sydney again in November, its Airbus A330-300 service will operate with a Kuala Lumpur-Sydney-Auckland routing.
From November, AirAsia X will also resume direct Perth-Kuala Lumpur and Melbourne-Kuala Lumpur flights, although there will be a change of airport in Melbourne. From 2018 until 2020, AirAsia X had been operating from Avalon Airport but will now return to Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport.
Each of these services between Australia/New Zealand and Malaysia will initially operate three times per week. This is an overall reduction in frequency compared to before the COVID-19 shutdown, when AirAsia X was operating up to two daily A330 flights from Sydney and Avalon to Kuala Lumpur. It was also flying daily from Perth and Gold Coast to Kuala Lumpur until early 2020.
Prior to the pandemic, AirAsia X had 25 Airbus A330-300 aircraft in its fleet. This number reduced to 11 during the pandemic, although the airline plans to lease a further four wide-body aircraft to bring this number to 15 by the end of 2022. There are currently just a handful of active A330s in AirAsia’s fleet, flying mainly from Kuala Lumpur to Delhi and Seoul.
Indonesia AirAsia, also part of the AirAsia Group (which recently renamed to Capital A) but a separate airline, restarted Perth-Bali flights in May.
AirAsia X has also announced plans to restart cheap long-haul flights to Europe. By the end of this year, AirAsia X could be flying from Kuala Lumpur to Istanbul, as well as to London via Dubai. This could give Australians more low-cost options for travel to Europe – a market currently served by Scoot.
AirAsia X’s Sydney-Auckland flights
Like AirAsia X’s flights between Australia and Malaysia, the Sydney-Auckland route will be operated by Airbus A330-300s with 12 Premium Flatbed seats and 365 Economy seats in a tight 3-3-3 configuration. (AirAsia X is the only airline other than Cebu Pacific to install 9-abreast seating on its Airbus A330; most airlines have opted for 8-abreast.)
If you don’t mind the narrow seating and the low-cost business model where everything costs extra, AirAsia X does have some attractive trans-Tasman airfares between Sydney and Auckland from just $325 return.
For a bit more comfort, AirAsia’s Premium Flatbed pricing is positioned around on-par with Air New Zealand Premium Economy and LATAM Airlines Business Class. It’s cheaper than Air New Zealand and Qantas Business Class on the Sydney-Auckland route.
Premium Flatbed passengers receive an angle-flat bed, included checked baggage allowance, one free meal and one bottle of water on board.
AirAsia X previously flew from the Gold Coast to Auckland between 2016 and 2019.
Fifth-freedom routes across the Tasman
Before the pandemic, there was an abundance of fifth-freedom routes between Australia and New Zealand. Until 2018, Emirates even used to fly up to four daily return A380 services across the ditch!
LATAM Airlines resumed its Sydney-Auckland-Santiago service earlier this year, while Qatar Airways recently launched a brand new Doha-Adelaide-Auckland route. Emirates will resume daily Dubai-Sydney-Christchurch flights in December.
China Airlines’ Brisbane-Auckland route and Singapore Airlines’ Melbourne-Wellington service have not returned.
Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: AirAsia dumps Avalon and returns to Tullamarine
