AirAsia a perfect match for us - Norwegian CEO Kjos

Norwegian (DY, Oslo Gardermoen) founder and CEO Bjørn Kjos says Malaysian LCC brand AirAsia (AK, Kuala Lumpur Int'l) would be a "perfect match" for his airline. According to Norway's Dagens Næringsliv, Kjos said the two budget carriers could compliment each other's operations with Norwegian's European traffic feeding into AirAsia's Asian operations and vice-versa.

“AirAsia is one of the world’s largest low-fare airlines,” Kjos told DN. “If we were to cooperate with anyone, it would have to be them.”

For her part, AirAsia CEO Aireen Omar said she saw great potential in such a partnership.

“I think it can be a good idea if the passenger stream from Europe is strong enough,” she said. “If a serious proposal comes about, I will take it back to our [Group] chief executive, Tony Fernandes.”

Norwegian currently serves Bangkok Suvarnabhumi from Copenhagen Kastrup, Oslo Gardermoen, and Stockholm Arlanda while AirAsia has reiterated plans to resume longhaul services to Paris and London through its AirAsia X (D7, Kuala Lumpur Int'l) subsidiary. Though AirAsia does not serve Suvarnabhumi, it, along with its Thai AirAsia (FD, Bangkok Don Mueang) and Thai AirAsia X (XJ, Bangkok Don Mueang) units, currently controls 45.36% of the total weekly capacity out of Bangkok Don Mueang.