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Jakarta Post

AirAsia to suspend its longest route, blames oil prices

  • The Jakarta Post

PREMIUM
Jakarta   /   Mon, July 18 2011   /  08:00 am

Low-cost carrier Indonesia AirAsia (AAI) announced it would end its Medan-Hong Kong route, one of its longest
routes, amid surging oil prices.

AAI corporate communications manager Audrey Progastama Petriny said Sunday that AAI would end the route on Sept. 12.

“The Medan–Hong Kong route, on which we use an Airbus A320 with more than four hours’ flight time, is Indonesia AirAsia’s route with the highest fuel consumption,” Audrey told The Jakarta Post.

She added that although the route’s load factor had reached 70 percent, AAI could not cover all expenses without significantly increasing fares.

“Our commitment as a low-cost carrier is to sell affordable seats. We are very cautious about adjusting fares,” Audrey said. “Our customers can still fly AirAsia to Hong Kong via Kuala Lumpur.”

She played down speculation that competition on ...