Flighthacker

AirAsia X is set to bring the great travel deals to Sydney from 1 July, 2010. Photo Credit: onggon (Flickr)

Travel Weekly broke the news that we’ve been all hanging out to hear, announcing today that AirAsia X has tentatively set 1 July as the date to commence direct Kuala Lumpur – Sydney flights. For now, daily departures are on the cards, to be potentially upped in the future.

It isn’t the first time that AirAsia has stated its intent to fly into Sydney, however with the resolution of the dispute between AirAsia and the Malaysian Government over the Kuala Lumpur Low Cost Carrier Terminal (KL LCCT), it seems a lot more feasible this time. Stay tuned to this blog and our travel tweets for updates.

In related news, Tiger Airways Australia has stated its plans to more than triple its fleet from 17, to 68 aircraft by 2015. With this will come greater frequencies on existing routes and the introduction of new routes across Australia and Asia. Read more on this venture.

More routes, more departures, cheaper flights. This is going to be an excellent year for the budget traveller!

Although details are sketchy at this moment, Jetstar have announced that in conjunction with Macquarie Bank, they will be releasing a Jetstar MasterCard in two flavours today – being regular and platinum. For the regular card, every dollar spent equates to 1c in Jetstar money, which can eventually be redeemed for flight vouchers and promotional offers. For platinum, this doubles to 2c.

Word has it that there may be a Qantas/Jetstar points tie-in announced next year.

Make sure you check details first, but the skinny is that interest will be pegged at 10.99% and the card itself will come with a $49 annual fee. So, if you think all those cents accrued will exceed the annual price tag, then it doesn’t seem too rough to me. Hopefully it won’t come with a minimum spend in order to collect points, like that pesky Everyday Rewards/Qantas Frequent Flyer card.

Watch this page for the card’s launch later today.

A couple of shorts from the last few weeks:

• Tiger Airways is now flying between Sydney and the Gold Coast, commencing 15 December. Introductory fares start from $39, with daily frequency.
• Virgin Blue and Pacific Blue flights will no longer accept cash for food and entertainment services on their flights – only credit card. Just as well – carrying loose change on international flights is a bit of a drag.
• Singapore Airlines and others are encouraging punters to buck the discount trend and purchase earlybird fares. So far, these fares are largely hot air, being neither particularly cheap (Sydney to London for $2000 with Singapore Airlines) and in the face of a strengthening dollar, not necessarily in short supply.
• Tiger Airways has more than enough material for another season of Airways, with a flight cancellation delaying passengers in Hobart for up to 3 days. Tiger denies that the police were called – that said, if I was stranded in Hobart for 3 days…!

It’s great to be back on the couch. Game on!

A striking red dust storm blankets Sydney. Photo Credit: tolomea

For the first time in living memory, Sydney has been hit by an apocalypse-red dust storm, paired with gale-force winds and a whole lot of environmental anxiety. This has caused chaos on both the ground and in the air, causing numerous flights to be redirected to Melbourne and Brisbane airports and creating major delays for passengers arriving to or departing from Sydney Airport. Even I encountered a significant delay this morning, while determining whether I wanted to walk through a painted reproduction from the final chapter of a children’s Bible. Finally, I closed my eyes and stepped outside – it couldn’t be any worse than in the Emirates, if they were to ever have a cold day, right?

If they ever had a day this cool in Dubai, I’m sure there would be chaos, too. But that was beside the point.

Onto the practical stuff:

• As of the time of writing, Sydney Airport’s website has been put out of order due to the influx of enquiries regarding flight delays
• Significant delays are to also be encountered at Brisbane airport, due to the arrival of redirected flights
• Qantas has announced that they will be refunding or rescheduling passengers on affected flights
• Jetstar will be rescheduling passengers on affected flights until Friday
• No word from Tiger Airways and Virgin Blue – call your airline if you are concerned about potential delays on flights departing in the next 24 hours

Well, the skies are starting to clear now over Sydney in a fascinating transition, from the morning’s blaze of grapefruit red, to a dull orange-yellow, to cottage cheese and finally, a sliver of blue. Check out this amazing Sydney dust storm photo set on Flickr.

What a dramatic, final day to my twenty-fifth year!

Cold in Melbourne? Fly to Phuket from December! Photo Credit: Shelby Lee Root

V Australia has announced the following new routes: Melbourne to Phuket, Brisbane to Phuket and Melbourne to Johannesburg, with the Phuket routes commencing 3 December and J’burg kicking off on 13 March, 2010! To celebrate, fares are now on sale ex. Melbourne and Brisbane to Thailand for $399 one way and ex. Melbourne to South Africa for $1899 return including taxes! Read entire article.

As proposed earlier in the week, AirAsia has announced that they have upped the frequency of flights from the Gold Coast to Kuala Lumpur to 6x weekly. View the new flight schedule.

As per AirAsia’s ongoing international sale, fares are still available for $149 one way, $303 return including tax. Sale is now until 9 August or until sold out, for travel between 20 October and 10 January, 2010. Not bad, Christmas holiday fares! Looks like Santa came early this year.

Check AirAsia’s sale page for details. To select the choice sale fares and to book, visit Adioso. What an amazing week for cheap travel!

Jump in quick: Jetstar have just launched their Sydney – Perth route and are offering $99 fares for the travel period of 20 October- 10 December, but only until 1pm today! Usual fares offered by Tiger Airways are about $199 one way, so if you have ever wanted to experience the west coast, this is the time.

Sale fares are not yet visible on Adioso, so check Jetstar’s sale page for details and to book. Availability is great, so get over there!

Sampai jumpa lagi (See you soon) - AirAsia X shelves its proposed Sydney - Kuala Lumpur route. Photo Credit: Jason Tan

The Malaysian Government has deferred approval of AirAsia X flights between Sydney in Kuala Lumpur, thus dampening the hopes of countless Sydneysiders who have been hanging out for one of their rediculously cheap fares. Read entire article.

Star Alliance's new RTW booking engine - Sexier than your travel agent?

Star Alliance has just launched a round the world (RTW) ticket booking engine on their website, allowing consumers to purchase their fares directly, instead of via a travel agent as has traditionally been done. Read entire article.

Snippet from the newsdesk: Tiger Airways has doubled their frequency on their Sydney – Melbourne route to 9 times daily, up from the initial 4 flights a day in each direction. Tiger also plan to double their Sydney – Adelaide frequency from daily to twice-daily. From TravelToday:

Roberts said the carrier had gained extra slots due to other airlines cutting services. With a new A320 also in operation, Roberts said Tiger was able to expand its presence on the trunk route.

First of all, who died? Who cut back services on the world’s third-busiest route, thus giving Tiger these extra slots?

Update (21/07/09): VirginBlue cut frequency earlier in the year, thus the extra Tiger slots.

Flights still start from $39 and are in plentiful supply, so visit Adioso to find a cheap fare.

In related news, ‘Airways’ Episode 2 is on tomorrow, Channel 7 at 7:30pm, catch a sneak peek here: http://au.tv.yahoo.com/airways/