Tuesday July 12, 2011
AirAsia X to move to Gatwick
By B.K. SIDHU
[email protected]
Second-ranked UK airport larger and has more links than present one
PETALING JAYA: AirAsia X (AAX), which flies six times weekly to London by way of Stansted airport, will move its base to Gatwick, which is Britain's second largest airport from late-October this year.
Sources said the announcement is likely to be made today from London and the move is for commercial reasons. The major consideration for the move is said to be Gatwick's offer of “irresistible rates” to AAX for landing and parking at the airport.
Another advantage of Gatwick is that it has a larger number of transiting passengers and connecting flights, compared with Stanstead.
Apart from Gatwick, Machester airport had also been courting AAX for some time now, the sources said.
Stansted is the third busiest airport in Britain and has been AAX's first point of entry into Europe since 2008.
Another plus for AAX moving to Gatwick is that it is closer to the city, making travel into London easier for passengers.
Gatwick is also home to British Airways, easyJet, Emirates, Monarch, Thomas Cook, Thomson and Virgin. A total of 90 carriers operate from that airport and according to its website, it is the “best connected point to point airport in Europe'' handling 32 million passengers a year flying to more than 200 destinations.
Stansted has 12 airlines flying from the airport and last year handled 18.8 million passengers.