Air Asia X to buy long haul Airbus jets

AirAsia X, the new Malaysian long-haul low-cost airline, is expected to announce next month that it will buy up to 15 Airbus A330-300 aircraft, according to people familiar with the order.
AirAsia X is also planning to start service in the fourth quarter of 2007 by leasing several aircraft until it takes delivery of the new Airbus aircraft.

AirAsia to lend name to new long-haul airline
AirAsia, Malaysia's biggest budget carrier, is to lend its name to a new long-distance low-cost airline to be launched by its founder but is unlikely to take an equity stake in the venture.
Separately both Virgin Atlantic and EasyJet denied speculation that they would be participating as partners in the project.
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EasyJet said: "We are not in talks and we have no plans to be in any talks with AirAsia. We do not do alliances."
Virgin Atlantic said: "They approached us about being a minority investor in the past. There are not any conversations taking place at the moment."
The prospect of an alliance between AirAsia and Virgin Atlantic sent AirAsia's share price 7.3 per cent higher to close at M$1.62 yesterday in the first day of trading after reports of a possible link.
Tony Fernandes, AirAsia's founder, is expected to announce on Friday that FlyasianXpress (Fax), a domestic Malaysian carrier he and other AirAsia executives control, will serve as the airline for the long-haul business, with flights to the UK.
However, Fax executives are hopeful that Virgin might later form an alliance with the carrier, which operates domestic Malaysian routes formerly served by state-run Malaysian Airlines.
Fax is expected to launch long-distance flights in mid-2007, using two Airbus A330 aircraft or two Boeing 777s. The size of the operation would be similar to that of Oasis Hong Kong Airlines, which began low-fare flights between Hong Kong and London last year in the first such venture linking the two regions.
The Malaysian government is keen to support the venture in the hope of attracting more European tourists to Malaysia, which has launched an extensive Visit Malaysia campaign this year.
Malaysia wants to establish Kuala Lumpur as the main hub for budget carriers in south-east Asia in competition with Singapore.