AirAsia X awaiting rights signal
AirAsia X has yet to receive rights to operate Sydney and Beijing routes despite four months and four updates on the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) (Business Times, 09-Mar-2011). Malaysia's Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) outlined such routes as immediate action routes at the launch of the ETP roadmap in Oct-2010. The manual on the ETP stated: "Specifically, the Ministry of Transport will identify immediate action steps to enhance connectivity for Malaysia to Sydney and Osaka as well as other priority medium-haul cities namely Shanghai, Beijing, Mumbai, Delhi, Melbourne, Seoul, Tokyo and Taipei that have already been given approval by the ministry for operations by both MAS [Malayia Airlines] and AirAsia X". National Economic Council member Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek recently stated that the paper on the initiative has yet to reach the consideration of the council.