SouthEast Asian low cost carrier AirAsia taken added the 100th Airbus A320 narrowbody aircraft to its fleet. The aircraft, registration 9M-AQH has been painted with a special dragon livery in celebration of the current Chinese Year of the Dragon, which is also that of AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes, and coincidentally myself.
A team of 20 painters used 600 litres of paint and spent 12 days round the clock to paint the Airbus A320 in the special livery.
The aircraft, which will operate on the Kuala Lumpur-Macau route right after it is launched, will also serve Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Singapore, Hong Kong, cities in Indonesia, and destinations throughout China on its aircraft rotation.
The dragon livery is the most recent addition to several AirAsia aircraft with special liveries which include the Amazing AirAsia livery; the Truly Asean livery to celebrate 2009’s ASEAN Day; the Zoom Malaysia livery in support of Tourism Malaysia’s initiatives to promote the country; the ASEAN Basketball League livery; and the Oakland Raiders livery celebrating the Raiders NFL football team.
AirAsia and its affiliates Thai AirAsia and Indonesia AirAsia operate an Airbus A320 fleet with 58 A320 based in four hubs in Malaysia, 22 aircraft based in three hubs in Thailand, 18 aircraft based in five hubs throughout Indonesia and two more aircraft in Clark, Philippines. Currently, both the Malaysia and Thailand operations are fully Airbus, while the Indonesia operations will be 100% Airbus by March. Last year, the carrier placed a 200 aircraft order for the new A320neo (new engine option) edging out the 180 A320 order of India’s low cost carrier IndiGo, as the largest.
All AirAsia affiliates are running a ‘Celebrate Our 100th Airbus’ promotion, with special fares.Visit the group’s website for more details.
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