Air Asia, the low-cost airline, has taken 15 landing rights in various cities as part of the airline's expansion programme in India, according to Ms Kathleen Tan, Regional Head of Commercial Air Asia.
Amongst the destinations which are on the airline's network radar include Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Mumbai during the first and second quarters of next year, she said while addressing a press conference here on Tuesday.
Ms Tan, who was here in connection with the official launch of the Kochi-Kuala Lumpur route, said that the company has received overwhelming response since it launched three routes from Kuala Lumpur to Kolkata, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram on October 15.
With the commencement of the direct service from Kochi, she said people can now use Kochi as a gateway to our extensive network to ASEAN and beyond. Since the opening of the Kochi route, the company has noticed a strong pick up with over 82 per cent load factor recorded by selling 35,000 seats. Using Kuala Lumpur as the gateway, the airline would be connecting destinations such as China, Bali, Phuket, Australia, Abu Dhabi, London with its low fares, she added.
Air Asia had launched its first route to Tiruchi on December 1 last year. The launch of the first frequency to the city recorded an overwhelming response with an average load factor of 85 per cent, which led the airline to launch its second frequency to the city on September 1.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Anuar Kasman, Consul-General of Malaysia in Chennai, said that the opening of the new routes would help tourism in the two countries. In 2008, around 5.5 lakh Indian tourists visited Malaysia. During the period between January and October, the number was 4.7 lakh.
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