The chief executive officer of AirAsia X, long-haul low-cost carrier based in a Malaysia, said he hopes to add two Japanese airports to its international service by 2012 after starting flights to Tokyo's Haneda airport in December.
"As far as other airports in Japan, we remain interested. I have always said Japan is a market where we can operate at three different airports, including Haneda," Azran Osman-Rani said in an interview Tuesday, adding he would consider airports in Osaka, Sapporo, Nagoya and Fukuoka.
"The cities other than Tokyo are not well known so we will not fly immediately, but once when the people of Malaysia know that we are flying to Japan, word gets around and that's when we can start direct flights there," the 38-year-old Osman-Rani said. "It will take maybe one or two years to build this awareness for these cities."