PETALING JAYA: Both AirAsia and Malaysia Airlines’ maiden flights from Kuala Lumpur to Langkawi today saw a full flight load, signifying a strong rebound for domestic air travel.
AirAsia’s inaugural service utilised an Airbus A321neo aircraft, which departed Kuala Lumpur International Airport (klia2) at 9.50am with a 100% flight load.
Malaysia Airlines’ inaugural flight to Langkawi (under the travel bubble programme) MH1432 departed Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 9.35am carrying the maximum capacity of 160 passengers and seven crew onboard its Boeing 737-800 aircraft. Upon arrival at Langkawi International Airport, the aircraft was welcomed with a water cannon salute and received by the Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri.
Aside from Kuala Lumpur (63 times weekly), AirAsia also has flights to Langkawi departing from Penang (14 times weekly), Johor Baru (seven times weekly), Ipoh (three times weekly) and Kota Baru (three times weekly), making up a total of 90 weekly flights. All flights are operated with a 100% fully-vaccinated crew, with strict health protocols and robust procedures in place to maintain safety standards at all times.
AirAsia Malaysia CEO Riad Asmat said in less than a week, it has sold over 200,000 seats to Langkawi.
“After months of preparation, we are thrilled to get the country flying again and are ready to scale up our operations to meet overwhelming demand. We hope more travel bubbles will be established across the country soon in line with the accelerated vaccination roll out, and eventually across the region when it is safe to do so.”
On ground, AirAsia’s e-hailing service also launched its island-wide services today.
