Summary
- AirAsia X will resume flights between the Gold Coast and Auckland, increasing Gold Coast Airport’s capability by 350,000 seats annually.
- The brand new route will operate as a continuation of AirAsia X’s services from Kuala Lumpur, replacing the previous route via Sydney.
- Auckland is the busiest international destination from Gold Coast Airport, with Air Latest Zealand and Jetstar currently operating flights between the 2 cities.
AirAsia X is ready to resume flights between the Gold Coast (OOL) and Auckland (AKL). The three-weekly service will begin on February eighth, 2024, and can see Gold Coast Airport’s annual capability increase by 350,000 seats.
The route will operate as a continuation of AirAsia X’s existing services from Kuala Lumpur (KUL). Currently, the airline operates flights to Auckland via Sydney (SYD) – this routing will now end on January thirty first, 2024, with the service switching to the Gold Coast as an alternative.
Photo: Airbus
AirAsia X celebrated its sixteenth birthday last week, and coincidentally, the airline’s first route back in 2007 was to Gold Coast. The airline’s CEO, Benyamin Ismail, confirmed the news of the service resumption, saying,
“Following an intensive network review, we have now decided to suspend our services between Sydney and Auckland from late January next 12 months. Nevertheless, we remain committed to Auckland as a destination and can be transferring our services from Auckland to Gold Coast starting 3 February 2024.”
The flight schedule
AirAsia X’s flights from Kuala Lumpur to Auckland via the Gold Coast will operate as per the next schedule:
Flight number |
Route |
Departure |
Arrival |
Frequency |
D7206 |
KUL-OOL |
22:30 |
08:45 (+1 day) |
Wed, Fri, Sun |
D7206 |
OOL-AKL |
10:00 |
16:15 |
Mon, Thu, Sat |
D7207 |
AKL-OOL |
18:15 |
18:35 |
Mon, Thu, Sat |
D7207 |
OOL-KUL |
19:50 |
02:25 (+1 day) |
Mon, Thu, Sat |
Photo: AirAsia X
Flights can be operated by the Airbus A330-300 aircraft. In line with the newest data from ch-aviation, AirAsia X currently has 17 Airbus A330-300s in its fleet, each of which seats between 309 and 377 passengers, depending on the configuration. The airline also has 20 A321XLRs and 17 A330-900s on order, which it’s going to use to strengthen its existing routes and expand its network further over the approaching years.
Gold Coast Airport’s busiest international route
Auckland is the busiest international destination from Gold Coast Airport, with greater than 220,000 passengers traveling on that route since January 2023, in line with the Chief Industrial Officer of Queensland Airports Limited, Adam Rowe. Air Latest Zealand currently operates seven weekly flights, while Jetstar flies as much as nine times per week between the 2 cities.