AirAsia Takes Off from Changi

AirAsia Takes Off from Changi
Today, Singapore

February 17, 2004

AirAsia was the first budget airline to take off from
Changi Airport yesterday, though it did so with a
whimper rather than a bang, despite CEO Tony Fernandes
declaring from the cockpit: "It's cool to come to
Changi with your own plane. It's an emotional moment
for me."

However, its maiden flight from Changi was marred by a
delay on the runway.

Flight FD700 was supposed to leave at 11am, but left
at 11.40am. This happened even though the plane had
reached the airport on time at 10.40am.

Turnaround time for the Changi flight was nearly an
hour.

The long turnaround time could be due to the fact that
it took the plane 15 minutes to reach the runway from
the boarding gate.

The large size of Changi airport made it unfeasible
for small budget carriers like AirAsia to take off
from there, he said. AirAsia still hopes to obtain
permission to operate out of Seletar Airport.

Occupancy for the budget airline's inaugural flight
from Changi to Bangkok stood at about 60 per cent,
made up of small business travellers and couples on
holiday.

However, Mr Fernandes said that despite the low
occupancy rate, AirAsia was profitable from day one of
operations, because the cost structure of his budget
airline was so low — the lowest in the world, even
beating that of Ryanair. 
 Do you have an opinion about this story?
Share it with other readers in our CAA Discussion Forums

http://www.californiaaviation.org/dc/dcboard.php

*****************************************