AirAsia X 'repairs' seats with tape, blames spare parts shortage

Imagine boarding an international AirAsia X flight and finding that the armrests on the economy seats have been fixed using vinyl tape.

That was what was encountered by most of the folks on flight D7 379 from Taipei, Taiwan to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. With tickets ranging from RM600-RM1,200, seeing these yellow tapes on a lot of the armrests certainly raised a few red flags.

AirAsia X responds with 'spare parts shortage'

*Image credit: Edward Wong

The FB post that went viral courtesy of Edward Wong got the attention of many individuals that went through similar experiences went travelling with AirAsia X. It has gotten their attention, and made a response for this particular matter.

According to a post by the Malay Mail, Alvin Tan, AirAsia X's head of engineering, stated "Due to the shortage of spare parts affecting operators worldwide and taking into account that this is not a safety issue, the vinyl tape — which is commonly used to cosmetic cabin repairs — was used as a temporary measure to prevent flight disruptions and to prioritise getting our guests to their destinations safely and timely. Spare parts orders placed in Aug 2022 have arrived last week and repair work is currently ongoing to fix all of the arm-rests."

*Image credit: Edward Wong

At the end of the day, we can all understand that some things can't be avoided. We ourselves are guilty of some shoddy repair work in our homes and modes of transport (I've used duct tape to fix the torn seat on my scooter in the past), but for AirAsia X, don't make it too obvious with bright yellow tapes. 'Cover line' a bit, use black duct tape next time.

In the meantime, check out the latest 2023 Isuzu D-Max in the video below with the latest addition to our team, Nadia!