Clarification on the cancellation of flight D7219 from Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur on 2 January 2023

SEPANG, 9 January 2023 - AirAsia X (AAX) refers to a Twitter post on 4 January 2023 tagging the Minister of Transport by a guest which was not accurately presented and news articles published based on the Tweet that could be misleading. AAX wishes to clarify some points upon our full factual investigation.

Benyamin Ismail, CEO of AirAsia X Malaysia said: “First and foremost, we apologise to all our guests affected by the cancellation of D7219 from Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur on 2nd January 2023. We confirm that the flight was cancelled due to operational reasons following a bird strike at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (klia2). 

“All affected guests were automatically moved to the next available flights based on flight capacity and availability and were also provided with immediate Service Recovery Options (SRO) to minimise any impact.

“In accordance with our policy to notify guests of any schedule changes as soon as possible, we notified the concerned guest of the cancellation via email and SMS on 30 December 2022 twice before their original scheduled departure at 07:40 on 2 January 2023. We also attempted to contact the guest on 31 December 2022 using the mobile number provided upon booking but the guest could not be reached.

“On 30 December 2022, the concerned guest contacted our chatbot AVA and when prompted that the booking is eligible for a flight change, the guest selected “No” and ended the conversation without seeking further assistance to chat with our Live Agent.

“On 2 January 2023, the guest contacted AVA again before choosing the SRO to move their flight to 5 January 2023 and cancelled the request twice upon earlier flight availability confirmation. At this time, our flights before the rescheduled travel date between 3 and 5 January 2023 were available and operated as scheduled.

“We are working closely with the authorities and will provide all available information that may be required to set the record straight. While we always welcome constructive feedback to ensure we can improve our services as we strive to deliver better customer experience, we ask that any and all claims made by the public be substantiated.”

AAX would like to note that it will not hesitate to take legal action against any parties involved in the dissemination of false and/or defamatory information to protect the integrity of the company.