Thai AirAsia X has started its newest service from Bangkok to Brisbane, with the first arrival touching down at 11:46 am local time on Wednesday. This marks the first AirAsia service to Brisbane Airport. The aircraft received a water salute on arrival, courtesy of the airport’s fire and emergency service.
The route is operated by Thai AirAsia X under flight number XJ310 (Bangkok to Brisbane) and XJ311 (Brisbane to Bangkok); duration of the flight is approximately nine hours and 20 minutes. Before this connection, the only non-stop service between Brisbane and Bangkok was operated by Thai Airways using the Boeing 777-200. The Malaysian AirAsia X serves Gold Coast Airport, which is located 90 kilometres (56 miles) south of Brisbane.
Thai AirAsia X is a sister airline of AirAsia’s long haul carrier AirAsia X. The Thai airline is based at Bangkok Don Mueang Airport. Together with AirAsia X and Indonesia AirAsia X, it operates a fleet of 36 Airbus A330-300 with up to 100 of the new generation A330-900neo on order. Thai AirAsia X will soon receive its first A330neo and become the Asian launch-customer of the aircraft type. The airplane, which is already due for delivery, was on display at Paris Air Show 2019.