<p>BUDGET international airline AirAsia X has confirmed it will cut its Adelaide services</p>

BUDGET international airline AirAsia X has confirmed it will cut its Adelaide services

from next month.

The Malaysian based carrier’s last flight will depart Adelaide for Kuala Lumpur on January 25.

The airline said affected passengers “are being contacted in regards to their options for travel

arrangements made for after that date’’.

The budget airline began direct flights to Adelaide in late October last year. When it was announced the State Government says the deal was expected to inject $30 million into the state’s economy and create 170 jobs.

The airlines commercial manager Australia Stuart Myerscough said “intensive analysis of the route’’ resulted in the “difficult decision’’ to cut services.

“The Kuala Lumpur-Adelaide route unfortunately hasn’t been profitable and in light of difficult trading conditions for us in Australia we’ve had to make this decision,” she said.

“We greatly regret any inconvenience this will cause to passengers.”

AirAsia will continue flying to Sydney, Melbourne, Gold Coast, Perth and Darwin.

Tourism Minister Leon Bignell said yesterday there had been rumours of the move to cut direct Adelaide flights from January in recent days.

He understood executives were going to come out to Australia for a full review of their operations next week.

“Since Malaysia Airlines lost their two planes they had a big hit on customer numbers, the government of Malaysia has thrown in $2 billion to help rescue Malaysia (Airlines) and what Malaysia Airlines has done is undercut everyone else in the marketplace, which has had a direct impact on AirAsia X,” he said.

“It’s not reflective of what’s happening in Adelaide, it’s happening in Sydney, it’s happening in Perth, it’s happening on their long-haul flights to China as well.”