(From top second left to right) Lee, Yeoh and Ooi celebrate the two inaugural international flights from Hanoi and Phuket into Penang.
PENANG: AirAsia Bhd (AirAsia) marked another milestone as it celebrated two international inaugural flights from Hanoi, Vietnam and Phuket, Thailand, into its Penang hub at the Penang International Airport.
The inaugural flight from Hanoi was received by the Penang State Executive Councillor for Tourism Development, Heritage, Culture and Arts Yeoh Soon Hin, Penang Global Tourism chief executive officer Ooi Chok Yan, and AirAsia Malaysia head of Commercial Spencer Lee, at the Penang International Airport.
AirAsia Malaysia head of Commercial Spencer Lee said, “We are pleased to strengthen our Penang hub further with the two new routes.
“ AirAsia Group has flown over 11 million guests in and out of the Penang since 2015. We are happy to share that as we are leading the market in Penang with 68 per cent of direct routes as of this April.
“We look forward to continue boosting tourist arrivals while at the same time connecting Penangites and the northern community to more destinations internationally with the AirAsia network.”
The Penang State Executive Councillor for Tourism Development, Heritage, Culture and Arts YB Yeoh Soon Hin said, “With the direct flights from Hanoi and Phuket, we can expect more tourists arriving from these two cities. This upward trend in Penang tourism is a good indicator for a robust economy in the immediate foreseeable future.”
The four times weekly directly flights from Hanoi and daily direct flights from Phuket are the seventh and eighth new route launched by the airline into Penang as a group, thus further strengthening the Asean footprint through connectivity aside from the Kuala Lumpur hub.
AirAsia currently operates 307 weekly flights one-way into Penang International Airport. In addition to Hanoi and Phuket, AirAsia also flies internationally from Penang to Jakarta, Singapore, Medan, Ho Chi Minh City, Surabaya, and Bangkok, as well as five domestic routes including Penang to Kuala Lumpur, Johor Bahru, Kuching, Kota Kinabalu and Langkawi.