Perak lobbies for direct Ipoh-Bangkok flights

IPOH: Want a direct flight between Bangkok and Ipoh? Then, ‘like’ and share a video promoting the Perak capital.

Efforts are being made to determine if such a route is viable, said Perak tourism committee chairman Loh Sze Yee.

He said Thai AirAsia has put out a teaser video on its Instagram account to promote Ipoh, and to determine if such a flight route could work.

“We have our fingers crossed. If the response to the teaser video is not good, it will not be good for the (possibility of such) flights.

“To them (airlines), it is always dollars and cents and it has to be marketable,” he told a press conference after opening a tour fair here yesterday.

Loh added that the state would monitor the teaser video and hoped there would be a good response.

“If there are 50,000 ‘likes’ and maybe 50 ‘shares’, it will be a different story. If there are only 50 ‘likes’ and five ‘shares,’ that will be another story.

“If Perakians want that (flight route), maybe they can like and share the video,” he said.

Loh said this effort started after a familiarisation trip by Thailand tourism industry players here a few months ago.

In 2018, then state tourism committee chairman Tan Kar Hing also envisioned a direct flight route between Bangkok and Ipoh that could start the next year. However, this did not materialise.

Separately, Loh said the state requested to the Federal Government to upgrade the Sultan Azlan Shah Airport into a regional airport.

On the plan for a new international airport in Seri Iskandar, he said it is a long-term plan.

“We already have an airport in Ipoh, so why do we need to build a new one which will take time?

“It is about getting the correct airlines and flights in,” he added.