16 Jan 2012

Budget airline to end flights to Europe and India

7:22 am on 16 January 2012

Budget airline Air Asia is to end flights to Europe and India because of high fuel prices and weak demand.

The Malaysian carrier's cheap long-haul associate airline, Air Asia X, will instead focus on new routes and expanding in its core markets of Australia and East Asia.

Air Asia will end flights to India in February and stop flying to London and Paris after the end of March.

It says high taxes in Europe have also made it difficult to offer low fares.

The airline also blamed the sluggish European economy and the Eurozone debt crisis.