AirAsia X, the long-haul low fare affiliate of AirAsia, has announced Paris will become its second European destination following its inaugural London flight last year.

The four times weekly direct flight between Paris-Orly International Airport and Kuala Lumpur International Airport’s Low Cost Carrier Terminal will commence on 14th February 2011 - making travel between Asia and Europe more accessible and affordable than ever before.

AirAsia Group CEO and AirAsia X Founder Tony Fernandes said, “AirAsia X’s Paris-Kuala Lumpur route is the realisation of one of its long-held ambitions to open up yet another affordable access between Malaysia and Europe for both ASEAN and European communities.”

In Paris to celebrate the announcement at the Theatre National De Chaillot, was - H.E Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Zainal; the Malaysian Ambassador in France, Monsieur Frank Goldnadel; Director of Paris Orly Airport, the ambassadors from Brunei, Laos, Philippines and Cambodia in France, Dr. Kiran Rao; Airbus Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Mr. Bernard Rey; Chairman of Renault Sport and Renault F1 Team,  Dato’ Sri Dr. Tony Fernandes; Group CEO of AirAsia and Founder of AirAsia X, Azran Osman-Rani; CEO of AirAsia X and over 150 invitees from the French trade, media, and hoteliers.

The new route will be serviced by the Airbus A340 aircraft with 327 passenger capacity including 18 Premium seats. Guests who want luxury for less will have the chance to experience AirAsia X’s comfortable ‘Premium FlatBed seats’ which are standard business class specifications of 20” width, 61” pitch and stretches out to 77” in full recline position.

AirAsia X covers destinations more than four hours in flight duration from Kuala Lumpur, complementing the existing AirAsia network of over 76 destinations throughout ASEAN, China and India. Via AirAsia’s 9 major hubs in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, passengers can enjoy unparalleled access to destinations throughout Asia, including Langkawi, Kota Kinabalu, Phuket, Borneo, Bali, Phnom Penh and Ho Chi Minh City.

AirAsia X Chief Executive Officer, Azran Osman-Rani said, “The new route is a significant achievement for us and is a reflection of our commitment to expanding our international operations further. Like Kuala Lumpur’s Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) - the gateway of ASEAN – Paris, Orly has true potential to be the gateway of Europe. Our renowned low-fare offerings will stimulate more demand from the European community to discover ASEAN and vice versa”.

As a group, AirAsia has carried more than 100 million passengers to date and in just three years AirAsia X has flown more than 2 million passengers. The airline now flies to 14 destinations in Australia (Gold Coast, Perth and Melbourne), China (Hangzhou, Tianjin and Chengdu), Taiwan (Taipei), Iran (Tehran), Korea (Seoul), India (Delhi and Mumbai), UK (London), Japan (Tokyo) in December and soon to France (Paris) next February.