Kuala Lumpur International Airport

This week: Air China is set to enter the Beijing-Copenhagen market, Malaysia Airlines returns to Brisbane and Smartwings adds leisure route.

Brisbane, the host of Routes Asia 2018, has secured the return of Oneworld alliance member Malaysia Airlines with direct flights to Kuala Lumpur.

The week: The first scheduled Las Vegas-Brazil non-stop flight, more Milan-New York capacity and Condor targets Kuala Lumpur.

The approval from the US Department of Transportation (DOT) allows AirAsia X to operate services to any destination within the US market and it will now formalise its development plans to serve the market to coincide with the future delivery of new widebodied equipment. The airline is known to have been considering flights to several US states including Hawaii as part of its route expansion plans.

The expanded network, which includes six Chinese cities that have never been served directly by a Malaysian airline, is just the first stage of an ambitious plan to more than triple Malaysia Airlines’ China business, adding more than ten additional cities to its network by the early 2020s.

AirAsia X will return to the European market from 2018 when it starts to receive its Airbus A330neos and it is seeking a possible partner to help feed its routes, according to the budget carrier’s chief executive officer, Benyamin Ismail.

Despite making its retreat from the European market back in 2012 due to high fuel costs, airport taxes and weak demand, it has been AirAsia X’s ambition to return to the Continent with more fuel efficient twin engine equipment once market conditions improved.