AirAsia X Scraps Europe Expansion

AirAsia X has once more dropped plans to resume long-haul, intercontinental services to Europe, AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes has confirmed. In a series of tweets on Monday, Fernandes said the carrier would continue to focus on developing its Asian market presence. Flights to Honolulu, the capital of Hawaii, via Japan, that are slated to start later this month, will remain an exception, Ch-aviation.com reported. "We have decided that ultra-long haul is not relevant now. [We] won't get seduced into price wars over London," he said. "We [will] let the full-service guys fight it out over Europe; many of them bleeding so so much." AirAsia X flights between Kuala Lumpur Int'l Airport and London Gatwick were originally planned to resume this month using a pair of dry-leased B777-300(ER)s.  The B777s were seen as a more expedient choice over the A330-900neo (for which the AirAsia unit has orders for 66) given the latter type is now only due to enter service in 2019.