AirAsia X takes on Sapporo

AirAsia X marks the spot: Japanese dancers striking a pose while displaying the 9,900 ticket price to fly from Sapporo to Kuala Lumpur via AirAsia X in Sapporo.

SAPPORO: It was a red-eye flight that was anything but a dowdy affair as AirAsia X began its inaugural flight to the northern Japan city of Sapporo in style.

Arriving on the 11.35pm flight from KLIA2 was group chairman Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz, who took the seven-hour trip to Sapporo – the capital of Japan’s Hokkaido prefecture.

She said she was charmed by the city, known for its white winter festivals. “I am happy to be back. It has changed so much since then,” said Rafidah, who last visited the city nearly 35 years ago.

Passengers on the inaugural flight received a warm welcome from the AirAsia X ground staff to mark the occasion.

Also on the flight was AirAsia X chief executive officer Benyamin Ismail and AirAsia X director Datuk Fam Lee Ee.

At Sapporo’s New Chitose Airport, Rafidah said the new route would fly four times a week, which was hoped to boost a two-way flow of tourists between Malaysia and Japan.

This is AirAsia X’s third Japanese destination after Tokyo and Osaka.

“Hokkaido is really famous. There will be many Malaysians who would like to see this part of Japan. We hope Japanese from this prefecture will also look to visit Malaysia for all-year-round summer,” said the former International Trade and Industry Minister.

The long-haul arm, having spent seven consecutive quarters in the red, is also in talks to defer the purchase of up to 13 new aircraft from Airbus as well as looking to start flights to Hawaii and New Delhi to tap new markets.

“We have seen very good response for the Sapporo route. For our December to February flights, we are close to full and flights in March to May are picking up.

“We are targetting about 250,000 passengers to Sapporo for next year,” Benyamin said.

AirAsia flight D7 550 will be flying from Kuala Lumpur to Sapporo at 11.35pm every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. It will arrive at 8.10am.

Flights from Sapporo to Kuala Lumpur will leave at 9.20am every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday and arrive at 5pm.

To celebrate its inaugural flight, AirAsia X is offering promotional all-in-fares for one way trips starting from RM349 for standard seats or RM1,299 for the premium flatbed seats.

The fares will be available for online booking until Oct 18 for the travel period between Oct 2 and Jan 3 next year.

-thestar online.