Air Asia PH scales back flights to HK, KL, Taiwan

The local unit of Malaysia’s Air Asia, the region’s biggest budget carrier, is reducing flights to key locations starting June 15.

Philippines AirAsia said in a statement that AirAsia flights between Clark to Kuala Lumpur LCCT will be reduced from 10 times a week to 3 times a week with all flights operated by AirAsia Malaysia.

Clark to Hong Kong will return to daily schedule from 10 times a week while flights to Singapore will now depart every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from 7 times a week. Flight frequency to Taipei will also be reduced from daily to 4 times a week.

No reason was stated for the reductions and Marianne Hontiveros, Philippines AirAsia CEO, has not responded to a request for comment.

The company said that affected guests can choose to fully refund their flight bookings, be offered a “credit shell for the same value” with a 90-day validity, and change the flight within 30 days with no added penalty.

AirAsia last month said its Philippine operations were strengthening, noting that the unit  recorded a load factor of 76 percent during the first quarter of 2013.

Philippines’ AirAsia, which has a fleet of two aircraft, also reported that it carried 144,000 passengers during the first quarter of the year. Miguel R. Camus