By Sharen Kaur
KUALA LUMPUR: AirAsia Bhd may take over AirAsia X Bhd's (AAX) axed route to Male, Maldives, and provide services to the destination starting next month.
On Tuesday, AirAsia group chief executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes tweeted that Maldives is back on, and that the airline will start selling in two weeks.
According to Fernandes, AirAsia is giving away two free tickets to travel to the destination.
However, AirAsia has not issued any official statements regarding Fernandes' tweet.
Fernandes was also not available for comment at press time.
AAX, the long-haul, low-fare affiliate of the AirAsia group, suspended its services to Male, effective March 1 2014 due to the challenging business conditions.
The airline started its operation to Maldives with its A330-300 aircraft landing at Ibrahim Nasir International Airport on September 28 2013.
It operated four weekly flights on Kuala Lumpur-Male-Colombo-Kuala Lumpur route and on Kuala Lumpur-Colombo-Male-Kuala Lumpur route.
Despite efforts by AAX to sustain the services, external factors, such as the depreciation of Asian currencies against the US dollar and lack of hotel room supply in Maldives, resulted in cancellation of thousands of bookings by travel operators.
Sources close to AirAsia said that it is targeting Maldives as part of its growth strategy and capturing the growing tourism market there.
The Maldives received close to 1.4 million tourists last year, about 7.1 per cent more than in 2013. Majority of the tourists arrived from Europe and Asia, led by China.
The source said AirAsia may fly to Maldives from Klia2, Penang or Langkawi.
AirAsia recently announced Langkawi as its latest international hub.
Fernandes had said that AirAsia plans to put five planes in Langkawi and generate up to 1.5 million passengers from the island, with focus on Asean destinations and gradually expanding the connectivity to China and India.
KUALA LUMPUR: AirAsia Bhd may take over AirAsia X Bhd's (AAX) axed route to Male, Maldives, and provide services to the destination starting next month.
On Tuesday, AirAsia group chief executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes tweeted that Maldives is back on, and that the airline will start selling in two weeks.
According to Fernandes, AirAsia is giving away two free tickets to travel to the destination.
However, AirAsia has not issued any official statements regarding Fernandes' tweet.
Fernandes was also not available for comment at press time.
AAX, the long-haul, low-fare affiliate of the AirAsia group, suspended its services to Male, effective March 1 2014 due to the challenging business conditions.
The airline started its operation to Maldives with its A330-300 aircraft landing at Ibrahim Nasir International Airport on September 28 2013.
It operated four weekly flights on Kuala Lumpur-Male-Colombo-Kuala Lumpur route and on Kuala Lumpur-Colombo-Male-Kuala Lumpur route.
Despite efforts by AAX to sustain the services, external factors, such as the depreciation of Asian currencies against the US dollar and lack of hotel room supply in Maldives, resulted in cancellation of thousands of bookings by travel operators.
Sources close to AirAsia said that it is targeting Maldives as part of its growth strategy and capturing the growing tourism market there.
The Maldives received close to 1.4 million tourists last year, about 7.1 per cent more than in 2013. Majority of the tourists arrived from Europe and Asia, led by China.
The source said AirAsia may fly to Maldives from Klia2, Penang or Langkawi.
AirAsia recently announced Langkawi as its latest international hub.
Fernandes had said that AirAsia plans to put five planes in Langkawi and generate up to 1.5 million passengers from the island, with focus on Asean destinations and gradually expanding the connectivity to China and India.
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