AirAsia Returns to Europe, Slashes Fares

AirAsia, the Malaysian low-cost airline, is returning to Europe this summer when it will add London and Frankfurt to its destinations.

The airline’s chief executive, Tony Fernandes, told German news agency DPA at the World Economic Forum in Davos that he planned to launch two new routes, from Kuala Lumpur to London and Bangkok to Frankfurt.

Tickets to Frankfurt will cost less than €200 ($214). “Honestly, I would like to offer them for even less. Because of the low oil prices, we could afford about €150,” Mr. Fernandes said. He’s keen to attract Europeans who want to go on holiday in Southeast Asia as well as Asians wanting to explore Europe: “We see this as a mutual market,” he said.

AirAsia is based near Kuala Lumpur and offered connections to London and Paris in the past but abandoned these in 2012 because planes were too small and energy prices too high.