With the Kota Kinabalu-Beijing and Kota Kinabalu-Macau inaugural flights registering more than 90 per cent of seats filled, AirAsia is confident these newly-launched routes will continue to receive a strong demand from tourists and travellers.
The maiden flight from Beijing on July 2 recorded 172 guests (92 per cent full) and the inaugural flight from Macau on July 16 welcomed 169 guests (93 per cent full).
AirAsia’s mid-haul airline, AirAsia X (AAX) also recorded a remarkable load factor for its first flight from Chengdu (Tianfu) to Kuala Lumpur on July 1 with 376 passengers (99 per cent full). Based on the increasing forward demand, AAX has recently increased the frequency from twice weekly to thrice weekly.
“The impressive load factors from AirAsia will not only foster stronger international relations and open up new opportunities for economic growth and cultural exchanges for Sabah as a whole, but also bring us a step closer to achieving our aim of registering more 2.2 million tourist arrivals this year,” said Christina Liew, minister of tourism, culture and environment Sabah.
“We are on the right course for a steady tourism recovery and we welcome AirAsia’s commitment in increasing its flight frequencies and launching more flight services in support of the government’s relentless efforts to boost the tourism industry in Sabah.”
AirAsia now operates 21 domestic and international routes to the state with a total of 300 flights weekly to/from Sabah, now with the addition of daily flights to/from Beijing and four weekly flights to/from Macau.
AirAsia Malaysia currently flies 14 routes to/from China with over 104 flights weekly from Kuala Lumpur to Guilin, Quanzhou, Guangzhou, Kunming, Shenzhen, Nanning, Shantou and Macau; Kota Kinabalu to Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Wuhan, Beijing and Macau; and Johor Bahru to Guangzhou.
AAX flies four routes to/from China with over 22 flights weekly from Kuala Lumpur to Chengdu (Tianfu), Beijing (Daxing), Shanghai, and Hangzhou.
“With the strong demand for more China flights from this hub, we look forward to increasing the frequency and adding more routes in the future,” said Riad Asmat, CEO, AirAsia Malaysia.
