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Melbourne Avalon Airport has welcomed its first international flight with the arrival of AirAsia X’s inaugural service on Wednesday morning.
Flight D7 216, operated by Airbus A330-300 9M-XBA, touched down at about 0830, following its eight-hour journey from Kuala Lumpur.
The aircraft was on the ground for about two and a half hours before operating the reciprocal D7 218 back to the Malaysian capital.
And inaugural @AirAsia flight D7218 from Kuala Lumpur has landed at Avalon Airport!! pic.twitter.com/zLGwOkqR6u
— Avalon Airport (@AvalonAirportAU) December 4, 2018
AirAsia X has switched its twice daily flight between Kuala Lumpur and Melbourne from Tullamarine as part of a 10-year deal signed with Avalon Airport’s operator Linfox Airports earlier in 2018.
The airport has said previously it expected about 500,000 passengers to pass through its newly built international terminal during the first year of operations.
On board the inaugural flight were AirAsia X group chief executive Nadda Buranasiri, Linfox Airports executive chairman David Fox and Australian High Commissioner to Malaysia Andrew Goledzinowski, among other invited guests and media.
“The arrival of AirAsia X Flight D7218 at the state of the art new low-cost carrier terminal at Melbourne Avalon Airport signifies a new era for travellers and for the AirAsia Group in Australia,” Buranasiri said in a statement.
“This purpose-built no-frills facility has today become one of the most important international hubs AirAsia flies to outside of Southeast Asia.
“By working together with airport, government and regional stakeholders, we’ve been able to deliver a long term deal that provides lower operating costs for AirAsia, increased passenger volumes and non-aeronautical revenue for Avalon Airport, and ultimately the opportunity for millions of people to fly affordably.”
And the first direct flight KL-Geelong has landed! Smooth flight. Congratulations to all! pic.twitter.com/zMbfXEBFmV
— Andrew Goledzinowski (@AusHCMalaysia) December 4, 2018
10 years in the making, @AvalonAirportAU International is a reality. pic.twitter.com/L05E5CaGjg
— Ari Suss (@AriSuss) December 4, 2018
To cater for the start of international operations, a new terminal was built at Avalon in partnership with the Commonwealth and Victorian governments.
The terminal, which was officially opened on Sunday, features border processing facilities, two duty free stores, tax refund facilities, as well as a bar and cafe spread over a 6,370 square metre ground floor and 985 square metre mezzanine area.
AirAsia X is the only airline currently offering international flights from Avalon. The A330-300s used to serve its four Australian ports of the Gold Coast, Melbourne Avalon, Perth and Sydney feature 377 seats comprising 12 angled lie-flat seats in the front of the aircraft and 365 economy seats at nine abreast in the main cabin.
Qantas’s low-cost subsidiary Jetstar serves Adelaide, Gold Coast and Sydney from the airport located about 50 km west of Melbourne and 15 km from Geelong.
Avalon Airport welcomes AirAsia X’s inaugural flight (Images from AAP/Mark Dadswell)
Mark
says:great move Air Asia X. Who would want to go anywhere near Tullamarine(& pay extra & put up with massive congestion), when they can fly to Avalon.
Darren Mc
says:I used to love flying Air Asia X from Tullamarine from a connecting flight from Adelaide, the move to Avalon has made it so difficult to do this now. I am making a flight to Bangkok via Kuala Lumpa every 3 months so goodbye Air Asia and hello Jetstar, at least now it is a direct flight from Tullamarine to Bangkok. Air Asia you have made it difficult once again for the people of Adelaide.
Colin
says:Why wouldn’t you just go direct to KL from Adelaide with Malaysia.
Baxter
says:I’m assuming that the price difference is a lot, so would be cheating going via Mel
Darren Mc
says:The price thats why, it is cheaper going via Melbourne flying Jetstar and Airasia x than Malaysia airlines flying out of Adelaide so that is why I am angry with AirAsia, I won’t fly with them again and they will also lose a lot of interstate passengers especially Adelaide where the majority flights fly into Tullamarine.
Harrison
says:I Think That Jetstar Should Switch Some Of Their International To Avalon To Save Time And Boost The Economy
Jack
says:What you’ve suggested is quite flawed, but I do understand your position and your theory. At the moment, Jetstar are using their 787’s almost to the maximum, as their timetable allows. Switching to Avalon wouldn’t save time, but it would boost the local economy. One other thing, for Jetstar to switch even some of their international flights would make it really difficult for connecting passengers, and overall, wouldn’t help anyone except the locals, which i can understand would be a pro for them, but a con for everyone else.
Darren Mc
says:Totally agree with you Jack, it is very difficult for interstate transfers, currently my transfer time in Tullamarine is about 2 hours which is perfect, people from Melboune can keep their Avalon airport to their selves, I love Tullamarine airport as I know every part of that airport.
Kevin Kenny
says:I think Air Asia can kiss goodbye to a lot of customers. Who is going to want to travel to Avalon and vice versa from the eastern suburbs of Melbourne or the Mornington Peninsula? Not me or my Malaysian relatives. We’ve used Air Asia to visit KL – but no more. I wonder who paid for Lindsay Fox’s new Avalon terminal? The taxpayers of Victoria? Bet this latest arrangement does not last anywhere near the planned 10 years. Air Asia will pull out as soon as passengers complain about the long distance to Melbourne, or vote with their feet and fly with other airlines. Jetstar must be laughing.
Jack
says:I totally agree. Avalon won’t last, at least, not yet. It’s too far from around 80% of their customers’ reach, and the only reason they switched, was because they were complaining about high landing fees, when, guess what, they were landing at something called a ‘peak time’, which charges ‘peak fees’. Something i don’t think AirAsiaX have heard about. Honestly, it’ll be cool to see their aircraft takeoff at next year’s avalon airshow, but overall, I have a bad taste for Avalon Airport since i was 14, and AirAsiaX since today XD. My grandparents were loyal flyers to AirAsiaX until they switched airports. Now they’re going to spend the extra and take Malaysia Airlines. They’ve booked next years trip on Malaysia Airlines to Kuching. There’s two passengers they’ve lost, and they’ve only operated 4 flights.
KUL-MEL was apparently one of their most profitable routes. Let’s see how that goes down the hole now.
Also, so must Malaysia Airlines and Scoot be laughing too. *HintHint*, send the A380 Malaysia =)
Dave
says:I flew Jetstar out of Avalon earlier this year. It was far far easier to head down the freeway to Avalon, park, walk in, no lines. The issue I had was, parking for the 4 day trip was actually much more expensive than parking in Long Term at Tulla. Avalon charged me $77, where as Tulla quoted $40. Tulla also has 3rd party long term parking as alternatives, where Avalon have no choice. This will impact me using Avalon in the future. I hope they look into this as I personally see it as a big discouragement from using Avalon
David
says:think Avalon will work very well for Air Asia X, because their airfares are generally much lower & that’s what many people look at.
Darren Mc
says:David,not for interstate passengers, as far as I know flights from Adelaide are all Tullamarine flights so there goes connecting passengers, I won’t fly with them again.
David
says:Air Asia is not looking for connecting passengers. Adelaide Airport need sto attract Air Asia for nonstop flights.
Darren Mc
says:They will lose a lot of passengers, I used to use them a lot as a regular customer and a lot of people that I used to talk with while waiting and the person sitting next to me were not from Melbourne and they were interstate people so yes connecting passengers are important to them, I see passenger numbers falling and less flights happening, it was just a very stupid move.
John
says:I hope the flying public get behind air asia with their move. Melbourne people should embrace the short drive to Avalon. Or would they rather sit on a freeway going nowhere or gridlocked roads. Every week almost the whole city grinds to a halt because of a minor incident. If you do the math, Air asia is arriving and departing out of peak when the traffic is actually going the other way. I recently picked up my daughter from Avalon, what a great experience, out with the sheep and the birds chirping, no fuss, no stress and straight out on the freeway and home. What a welcome for overseas visitors to Australia.
Richard Bradfield
says:The idea is good to have a second International airport in Victoria, But how does the ground transport work, with over 200 people arriving at one time? does the Airporter bus put on more services at the time, is there a service between Tullamarine and Avalon, these things need to be sorted to make Avalon sucessfull
David
says:richard bradfield ………….
Yes 2nd int airport is essential. Look at the mess in Sydney that won’t be fixed before 2026. Doubt if much demand to go AVV to MEL. The real demand is for Ubers & cheap rent a cars.
Claudio belvedere
says:I take it vic govt paid for all this lindsay fox gets a free airport look at western australia deal with a chinese airline 30 percent capacity the chinese pulled out 1 day after their commercial inhouse agreement expired
The authourities were mouthing off about the inaugural flight being 90 percent capacity but failed to mention most were on freebies
David
says:No airline is ever going to let you know their yields on a particular flight
Howard Patterson
says:Adelaide is a small city and cannot generate sufficient demand for a large number of international services. There may one day be feeder services into Avalon which might assist Tasmanians and South Australians to get to Asia as conveniently as going to Tullamarine. Air Asia has had a meteoric rise and I suspect that they know what they are doing. My son was happy enough to come back to Avalon on Air Asia in late March 2020 when Jetstar pulled the plug on his flight.