AirAsia, Darwin ready to hold talks

AirAsia, Darwin ready to hold talks

Agence France-Presse, Kuala Lumpur

Asia's top budget carrier AirAsia and Australia's Northern Territory said on Tuesday they are willing to hold talks on flights between Malaysia's Sabah state on Borneo island and Darwin.

"We never turn down any offer. We are keeping an open mind," Kamarudin Meranun, AirAsia's executive director told AFP.

Kamarudin said the route between Sabah's capital Kota Kinabalu and Darwin in the Northern Territory was within the three hour time horizon of the carrier.

Meanwhile, Northern Territory International Trade Director Quentin Kilian told AFP such a link would promote tourism and trade, and could serve to make the state capital Darwin a departure point for Australian tourists.

"We're certainly interested in discussing it (but) everything hinges on it being a commercial reality," Kilian said.

"The opportunity is very much there."

Kilian said the flight to Kota Kinabalu could also open up better links to Kuala Lumpur.

Northern Territory officials were in talks with a number of airlines about expanding Darwin's currently limited international reach of direct flights to Singapore, Denpasar in Bali and Brunei only, he said.

"What we want to do is open up both trade and tourism links within the near region," he said, adding that this could include Malaysia and Brunei.

Darwin could also be considered an embarkation point for Australian tourists in search of a cheap Asian holiday, Kilian said.

"It wouldn't be restricted to just the people of the Northern Territory, essentially there's a lot of people living on the eastern seaboard of Australia, in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, who could use Darwin as an exit point to go to places like (Kota Kinabula)," he said.

Kamarudin said AirAsia's Indonesian unit AWAIR was also keen to begin flights from Bali to Darwin.

"We can also do the Bali-Darwin route," he said, adding that AirAsia would have to conduct a feasibility study before making a decision.

"For instance, we need to find out about Darwin's flight connectivity with other Australian cities," he said.

Launched as a budget carrier in December 2001 with just two aircraft, AirAsia has defied the skeptics to become a significant player in the air industry and has been imitated by startled national carriers along with a host of new low-cost entrants.

AirAsia currently operates in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Macau.

It will become the first no-frills foreign airline to fly to China next month with daily services between Bangkok and the southeastern Chinese city of Xiamen.