AirAsia hits out at ADL

AIRASIA has named Adelaide as its next potential Australian gateway for its long-haul offshoot AirAsia X, but has hit out at high fees at the city’s airport.

In a blog post published on LinkedIn, AirAsia Group ceo Tony Fernandes says services to the SA capital will not be possible under current “exorbitant charges” at Adelaide Airport.

“Adelaide has so much potential in being one of the next main cities in Australia and we are working hard to bring low-cost travel to the region, but it has been challenging in line with high airport charges at Adelaide airport,” Fernandes writes.

“A Kuala Lumpur-Adelaide route is what we are looking for and we are happy to take this plunge provided we receive the relevant support,” he says.

“It is unreasonable to expect AirAsia to pay above average airport charges whilst the Adelaide Airport remains operationally congested with only a single international baggage belt and lengthy queues at security screening.”

A spokesman for Adelaide Airport said discussions had been held with AirAsia X since its previous ADL operations in 2014 and that it would welcome low- cost services to Kuala Lumpur.

“We offer a competitive pricing regime for airlines – and have had significant recent success in attracting major carriers such as China Southern Airlines, Fiji Airways and Qatar Airways to Adelaide,” he said.

“We have significant available capacity through the day but acknowledge some increasing operational challenges in peak periods when services are off- schedule.

“That’s why we’ve started an expansion of the terminal to significantly upgrade our international facilities ( TD yest).”