Gatwick eyes extra Asian business
London Gatwick airport predicts the arrival of the A350 aircraft into the market will help it secure a raft of previously unserved routes to Asia over the coming three to five years, including the potential to revive AirAsia’s abandoned service to Kuala Lumpur, according to a report in Routes News.
Matt Wood, head of airline relations at Gatwick, said the lower fuel consumption and reduced costs of operating the new Airbus aircraft could make a number of long-haul routes "viable" for the first time, including the return of AirAsia X’s Kuala Lumpur-London route.
The Malaysian low-cost carrier operated a direct route to Stansted in 2009 before moving it Gatwick in 2011 and then abandoning it completely in April 2012, a decision it blamed on high fuel costs and taxation.
"AirAsia X would be willing to come back into the market with the A350, previously it was using the A340 which was the worst aircraft you could fly for that market, the A350 is what’s going to open up the market," said Wood.
Gatwick is also targeting other new Asian destinations, including the Philippines, which currently has no direct links to Britain.
Wood told Routes News that Gatwick’s recent success in attracting Vietnam Airlines, Korean and most recently securing the UK’s only direct link with Indonesia with Garuda, revealed an airport does not need to be a hub like Heathrow to be able to secure long-haul routes.
"The really important thing to understand about passengers flying between Indonesia and London is that London is the end point of their journey, people do not come here to transfer, it’s the biggest point-to-point market in the world."
Ian Jarrett
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