Long-haul budget airline AirAsia X today said it remained bullish about its outlook amid an economic slowdown which has forced many carriers to go bankrupt in recent months.

AirAsia X chief executive officer Azran Osman-Rani said passengers who flew full fledged carriers would opt for AirAsia X as it offered lower fares.

He said its low cost terminal near the Kuala Lumpur International Airport was always busy with passenger traffic.

"There is no slowdown (for us). Our load factor is good," he told AFP by phone from Toulouse, France where he is collecting the carrier's first new fuel-efficient A330-300

The carrier is expected to receive its second carrier in December which would further lower its operating costs.

AirAsia X has signed a deal with Airbus to buy 25 A330-300 aircraft.

Azran had said last month that Airbus will deliver three of them in 2009, and that it was fast-forwarding an aircraft originally scheduled to be handed over in 2011.

Azran made the remarks after an industry group warned Wednesday that airlines in the Asia-Pacific face a tough future as the global financial crisis bites deeper.

Andrew Herdman, director-general of the Kuala Lumpur-based Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA), said carriers will suffer a decline in revenue.

"We are braced for a very rough ride over the next few months as the global economic slowdown begins to bite hard," he said in a statement.

The latest casualty

The latest casualty is Denmark-based low-cost carrier Sterling Airways which Wednesday said it would file for bankruptcy because its cash-strapped Icelandic owner was unable keep it airborne.

AirAsia X, launched in January 2007, is an affiliate of regional low-cost carrier AirAsia and Virgin Group. AirAsia and AirAsia X have common shareholders, including AirAsia founder and CEO Tony Fernandes.

Richard Branson's Virgin Group has also taken a 20 percent stake in the airline, and the British billionaire has vowed to ensure the project turns a profit.

AirAsia X currently operates with just one A330-300, which carries out four return flights a week between Kuala Lumpur and Australia's Gold Coast, as well as to China's Hangzhou.

The airline plans to offer six return flights per week between Perth and Kuala Lumpur starting November 2 and to service Melbourne from November 12.

AirAsia X is also expected to fly to Britain in the first quarter of 2009.

-AFP