BAYAN LEPAS: Expanding its wings even further, AirAsia marked another milestone by celebrating its new international inaugural flights from Hanoi in Vietnam and Phuket in Thailand, into its Penang hub at the Penang International Airport (PIA) here today.
Its three-hour flight from Hanoi touched down at PIA at 12.50pm, carrying passengers up to 80 per cent load, while the Phuket flight will land later tonight at 11.05pm.
The inaugural flight from Hanoi was received by state Tourism Development, Heritage, Culture and Arts committee chairman Yeoh Soon Hin, AirAsia Malaysia Head of Commercial Spencer Lee and Penang Global Tourism chief executive officer Ooi Chok Yan.
Lee said AirAsia was pleased to strengthen its Penang hub further with the two new routes.
He said the AirAsia Group had flown over 11 million guests in and out of Penang since 2015.
“In 2017 alone, we had 3.5 million passengers, and for this year until June, we already have two million guests.
“We are happy to share that we are leading the market in Penang with 68 per cent of direct routes as of this April.
“We look forward to further boosting tourist arrivals, while at the same time, connecting Penangites and the northern community to more destinations internationally with the AirAsia network,” he said in his speech.
Yeoh said that the two new direct routes from Hanoi and Phuket would further boost the number of 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,” he added.
The four-times weekly direct flight from Hanoi and daily direct flights from Phuket are the seventh and eighth new routes launched by the airline into Penang as a group, thus further strengthening the Asean footprint through connectivity aside from the Kuala Lumpur hub.
The flights heading to Hanoi will take off at 6.15am every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. The return flights from Hanoi will take off at 8.50am Vietnam time on the same four days every week.
The one-hour flight to Phuket will depart at 8.25pm daily while the return flight will take off at 11pm Thailand time.
In conjunction with the momentous occasion, AirAsia is offering celebratory promotional all-in-fares from RM119 flight to Hanoi and RM79 flight to Phuket, both flights from Penang.
The special promotion is available for booking from July 2 to July 8 for the travel period between July 2, 2018, to Jan 31 next year.
Guests can visit airasia.com or use the AirAsia mobile app on the iPhone or Android devices to enjoy the special promotional fares.
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