Air Asia X - the low-cost longhaul arm of Malaysian carrier Air Asia ' is increasing flights to seven per week on its recently launched London Stansted- Kuala Lumpur services. The increase'from five departures per week was prompted by the strength of early demand, and is part of the carrier's overall expansion strategy for Europe.

Dublin-based IAM, which was appointed to market the airline's capacity in Ireland when it began services in March, has welcomed the move. IAM uses express overnight road feeders to connect to the airline's departures from London Stansted Airport, which are operated by Airbus A340-300 aircraft with approximately 8000 kg cargo payload.

From Kuala Lumpur, Air Asia X offers 18 onward widebody services per week to Australia (Perth, Melbourne and Brisbane), which are forming the main focus of IAM's marketing effort.

Says IAM MD Ian McCool: 'We were delighted to have been selected to represent Air Asia X, which adds significantly to the spread of destinations we can offer the Irish export market. Take-up for the first flights has been very good indeed, and we are receiving a high volume of repeat bookings due to satisfaction with the service. The move to daily departures gives us an important extra selling point for the Irish market.'

AirAsia, founded in 1993, is the largest low cost carrier in Asia, operating over 400 flights daily from its hubs in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. Launched in January 2007, AirAsia X focuses on low-cost, long haul, high-frequency services. Air Asia and Air Asia X collectively operate 78 Airbus A320, A330 and A340, with another 142 Airbus aircraft on order. Air Asia X already plans additional services into Europe.

IAM is the lead company in a growing aviation services group, represents 13 major airlines, and is the exclusive Irish member of EGSAC, the world's largest GSA network with 80+ stations in 30+ countries.