He said it was also a hugely popular destination for visiting friends and family both ways and also for students studying. It would fly a widebody A330 on the Gold Coast route three times a week as it had on the Sydney service. Like the existing Sydney flight, the Gold Coast service would connect to Kuala Lumpur.
“These decisions are made with thorough review and careful consideration of all relevant information. Our network will continue to evolve based on a number of factors but primarily based on consumer demand,” said Ismail.
The airline said it understood “the inconvenience” for affected passengers booked on Auckland-Sydney flights.
“We are doing all we can to minimise any disruption by contacting them as soon as possible and offering a range of provisions including refund, credit to fly at another time and free of charge transfer via Gold Coast for those booked from Auckland to Kuala Lumpur.”
The airline faced strong competition on the Auckland-Sydney route from dominant carriers Air New Zealand and Qantas.
Ismail said AirAsia X would continue to monitor the situation and if demand returns would consider reinstating the Auckland-Sydney service at a later date.
“However for now and as a leisure-focused airline we are seeing more demand across the Tasman to and from the Gold Coast.”
It will face competition from Air NZ and Jetstar on the Gold Coast route.
Queensland Airports chief commercial officer Adam Rowe said the return of AirAsiaX’s Gold Coast to Auckland connection would provide more options for travellers.
“This is a welcomed addition to our network and exciting news for travellers - flights between the Gold Coast and Auckland are our busiest international connection, with more than 220,000 passengers travelling on that route since January,” he said.
About 60 per cent of passengers travelling between the Gold Coast and New Zealand fly to or from Auckland, and the return of this service will add more than 350,000 extra seats on that route a year.
Fares on sale today start at $179 one way between Auckland and the Gold Coast.
AirAsia X said it continues to witness strong demand for services on many existing routes and has recently increased the number of flights from Melbourne, Sydney and Perth to Kuala Lumpur to cater for this.
AirAsia X is the long-haul arm of Air Asia and both are part of a wider group with the new name, Capital A, reflecting its increasingly broad business beyond airlines.
AirAsia X suffered badly when Covid hit because it was a long-haul carrier when borders were shut. It had to re-negotiate debt in 2021 but built back aggressively and has returned to profitability.
The airline previously operated flights Auckland-Gold Coast flights but ditched them in February 2019, well before the pandemic hit.
The airline flew to Christchurch from Malaysia for a short time but quit the service as demand dropped following the 2011 earthquakes.
Grant Bradley has been working at the Herald since 1993. He is the Business Herald’s deputy editor and covers aviation and tourism.
