Long-haul low-cost carrier AirAsiaX is set to recommence flights to Australian cities and New Zealand for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
The airline announced it will restart flights from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, and Auckland from November 1, 2022,.
These are all part of the destinations that AirAsia announced it would resume, when the airline unveiled its plans to return to the skies in June 2022.
Flights to and from Auckland will go via Sydney from Kuala Lumpur, so AirAsia X will also add competition to the popular trans-Tasman route between Australia and New Zealand.
“In 2019, we flew over a million guests to both countries, which shows that Australia and New Zealand are important markets for us and we connected the same number of Australians and New Zealanders to Malaysia and across Asean,” AirAsia X CEO Benyamin Ismail said in a statement dated July 18, 2022.
Ismail added: “After a two-year hiatus we are back stronger than ever and proud to renew our commitment to making medium to long-haul air travel affordable once again for everyone in this region as well as across Asean.”
The airline said it will begin running three flights a week to each capital city, then will gradually add more flights up until the first quarter of 2023.