Asia’s low-cost carrier Air Asia is considering launching scheduled flights to two destinations in South Africa.
This is indeed exciting news for all travellers between Asia and Africa.
South Africans can thus look forward to low-cost flights to Kuala Lumpur and beyond from late next year.
NEW AFRICA ROUTE
Air Asia is set to launch its first flight into Africa next month, with Nairobi flights starting in mid-November.
Asia’s leading long-haul low-cost carrier, AirAsia X, flies to over 130 destinations across Southeast Asia, Northern and Central Asia, and Australia
SOUTH AFRICA ON THE CARDS FOR AIR ASIA
The airline attended the AviaDev conference which was held in Windhoek, in June this year, sparking questions about whether it was considering African routes.
Soon after that Air Asia announced that it would commence scheduled flights into Nairobi in Kenya.
Air Asia’s Chief Commercial Officer Paul Carroll told Tourism Update that the airline is also exploring options for Cape Town and Johannesburg flights.
“We are still negotiating this but hope to have the flights in place by the fourth quarter of 2025.”
He said that the Nairobi route will be used as a case study for further expansion into Africa.
“The Nairobi route will test demand for flights into and from Africa,” Carroll said.
NEW NAIROBI ROUTE
Air Asia will launch direct flights between its hub in Kuala Lumpur and Nairobi on 15 November.
The long-haul route will be operated four times a week, using an Airbus A330-300 aircraft which seats up to 377 passengers.
The eight-hour direct route is projected to carry 16 000 passengers between Nairobi and Malaysia in 2024. In 2025, more than 140 000 passengers are projected to travel on this route.
If there is passenger demand for additional flights Air Asia will indeed consider adding more frequencies.
EXPANDING INTO AFRICA
Air Asia’s Nairobi route marks Air Asia’s first real foray into Africa.
“We are excited to launch our new direct route to Nairobi next month. This is a major milestone in our mission to connect Asia with Africa and opens up a world of travel possibilities between the two continents.” Benyamin Ismail CEO of AirAsia X said.
That said, Air Asia has previously operated flights between Kuala Lumpur and Mauritius.
In 2016, the budget airline commenced flights to the island of Mauritius but it terminated the route in 2017.
FLIGHTS FROM MALAYSIA
Malaysia’s national carrier, Malaysia Airlines provided flights between Malaysia and South Africa for two decades before scrapping South Africa from its route network in December 2011.
Malaysia Airlines flew to Johannesburg and Cape Town (and onward, to Argentina’s capital, Buenos Aires) for 20 years.
According to IOL, the airline cancelled the route due to cost-cutting measures. It needed to prioritise routes that generated profits.
For many years Malaysian Airlines was the only airline apart from South African Airways to fly directly to South America from South Africa.
HOW LIKELY ARE YOU TO FLY WITH AIR ASIA?
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