It has been my favorite carrier. My first, my cheapest. Brought me to places (actually only BKK, oh and BKK to Chiang Mai too) at ridiculous prices like $1. More than once.
Stupid Singapore!
Budget carrier AirAsia no longer interested in Singapore route: chairman
After a long campaign to secure landing rights in Singapore, Malaysian budget carrier AirAsia has said it is no longer interested in the lucrative short-haul route. "I am not interested in that route. We are going to other places," AirAsia's chief executive Tony Fernandes told AFP over the weekend. AirAsia currently serves Singapore from the southern Johor state on the Malaysian side of the Causeway linking the two states. In October, the airline accused Singapore of discrimination after it awarded the long sought-after landing rights to a rival Indonesian carrier. Fernandes previously said that Singapore was "a country that is supposed to welcome open competition, but they are scared of us" because the city-state's own budget carriers are struggling. While AirAsia reported a net profit of 111.63 million ringgit (US$29.6 million) for the year to June, budget airline Tiger Airways, a unit of state-owned Singapore Airlines, and JetStar Asia, in which the government has a stake, are unprofitable, the Financial Times newspaper said last month. Fernandes said AirAsia would continue to push to open new routes to other Southeast Asian countries like Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos, Indonesia and Brunei, as well as routes to southern China. "We will open up new destinations. People can go to Bali and Bangkok to shop. It is going to be a loss for Singapore," he said. AirAsia was launched in December 2001 with just two aircraft and has since become a significant regional player, with its business model increasingly imitated by national carriers and a host of new low-cost entrants. The airline covers most major cities in Southeast Asia, linking Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Macau, Vietnam, Cambodia, Xiamen in China and the Philippines. - AFP /ch
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