AirAsia announces direct flights between KL and Tianjin from Dec 2

AirAsia planes seen here on the KLIA tarmac. – Reuters

SEPANG: AirAsia is expanding its footprint in China with an exclusive direct service between Kuala Lumpur and Tianjin, a coastal city in China.

Beginning Dec 2, the new route will connect more than 15 million people in Tianjin with South-East Asia and beyond.

AirAsia’s long haul affiliate, AirAsia X, will not only provide direct services between the two cities, but also stimulate regional demand through great value airfares, enabling more people to travel.

AirAsia will also beef up its direct route between Kuala Lumpur and Changsha, doubling the current number of seats on the popular route in response to demand, by operating its fleet of larger wide-body Airbus A330 aircraft commencing Oct 29.

In a statement Thursday (Oct 11), AirAsia X Malaysia CEO Benyamin Ismail said the two announcements will contribute year-round capacity of over 300,000 additional visitor seats in total to China.

He said this will significantly boost tourism, trade and economic growth while paving the way towards China’s Year of Tourism and Culture 2020, envisioned by the leaders of both Malaysia and China.

“Together with our existing routes into China, today’s announcement means we are further strengthening our foothold in Northern China and increasing our overall capacity to China - one of our  fastest growing markets.

“We will continue to look for expansion opportunities that not only maintain AirAsia Group’s dominance as the largest foreign carrier to China by capacity, but also enable us to remain committed in our quest to making air travel affordable for everyone,” said Benyamin.

With the launch of Tianjin as its latest destination, AirAsia will fly to 20 cities in China with 550 weekly direct flights from hubs in Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines.