AirAsia X (D7, Kuala Lumpur International) has postponed the first delivery of an A330-900 to the second quarter of 2020, while Thai AirAsia X (XJ, Bangkok Suvarnabhumi) plans to take the first two leased -900s already in the second quarter of 2019, CAPA has reported.
Initially, AirAsia X was due to take the first -900 by the end of 2019.
The Thai long-haul low-cost unit will lease the two Airbus widebodies. As such, the deliveries will not affect the backlog of outstanding orders placed by AirAsia Group, which includes sixty-six firm -900s and a further thirty-four announced last year but still not confirmed.
AirAsia X CEO Benyamin Ismail said that the additional order from last year was still under consideration. The carrier will likely settle for around seventy-five units. The number of widebody -900s eventually confirmed will also depend on the number of A321-200neo and A321neo(LR)s AirAsia decides to take.
Ismail added that AirAsia X had worries about the performance of the Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines and wanted to use the data from its Thai unit for further analyses.
Following the revision of the plans, AirAsia X is generally not planning to take any new aircraft in 2019. The airline currently operates twenty-four A330-300s. It could, however, take one -300 from Indonesia AirAsia X (IDX, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta) in the third quarter of the year. The Indonesian unit is currently focusing on charter flights and terminated all scheduled services.
In turn, Thai AirAsia X will also add three -300s on top of the two -900s. It currently operates ten -300s.
