KUCHING: Low-cost carrier, AirAsia Bhd (AirAsia) is strengthening its route network and connectivity to China through the announcement of a new Kuala Lumpur-Nanning to the world’s most populous nation.
According to a press statement yesterday, “The new route will be available for booking from today until September 16, 2012.”
The new route is the only direct flight available from Kuala Lumpur to Nanning and will commence operations with three times a week flights on Tuesdays, Thursday and Saturdays starting December 11, 2012.
“This will complement the our networks connectivity from Asean to China, especially with the recent
announcement of Bangkok to Wuhan flights operated by Thai AirAsia. Kuala Lumpur
to Nanning will be our 22nd route to China,” AirAsia said.
AirAsia group head of Commercial, Kathleen Tan noted that, “China is a great market for us to explore and expand our route network and connectivity. We are seeing a greater demand between both ends especially for business travel.
“As such, we hope to showcase what Nanning has to offer to the average of 30 million guests that fly
through our network every year as well as for the Chinese to use our Kuala Lumpur hub to conenct to more than 75 destinations that we fly to.”
Tan expressed that the company was glad to provide the only direct flight between the two cities, adding that AirAsia was confident that the flight loads would pick up once the new destination was open for sale.
She highlighted that Nanning had been growing in importance as a city that works closely with Asean countries to promote investment and trade between the two.
Nanning is widely know as the ‘green city’ for its abundance of greenery and natural landscape. It is home to 6.7 million people as well as numerous tourist attractions, such as Asia’s largest transnational waterfall, known as Detian Waterfall, Guangxi’s highest mountain – Daming Mountain and numerous others.
“Apart from the tourist attractions, Nanning plays an important part in the economy development and trade between China and Asean with the annual China-Asean Exposition (CAEXPO), a collaboration between the Asean Secretariat and the Chinese Premier,” AirAsia added.
The CAEXPO was targeted to be a platform for China and the Asean region to enlarge their trade cooperation especially in commodity trade, investment and cooperation and service trade. The increased interaction between the two served to justify the impending popularity of the new route.