KUALA LUMPUR: Bookings for Malindo Air flights to Perth, Australia, will resume on March 3 with the relaunch of its KUL-PER-KUL service.
The twice-weekly service marks the airline's first destination into Australia following a hiatus of two years when the international border was closed at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
"From March 28 onwards, our frequency will be ramped up to four times weekly," the airline said in a statement.
Malindo Air launched its inaugural flight from Kuala Lumpur to Perth in November 2015.
"Our one-way all-in flexi fares on this new relaunched route (KUL– PER) starts from RM1,299 for Economy Class and RM2,559 for Business Class, inclusive of 30kg free baggage allowance," it said.
The first service, with a full set of vaccinated crew on flight OD155 will depart Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) on Thursday at 6.45pm to Perth. With a flight time of about five hours and 45 minutes, it will land at Perth International Airport at 12.30am.
The return flight (OD156) will depart Perth at 1.20am and will arrive in KLIA at 7.10am.
Malindo Air chief executive officer Mushafiz Mustafa Bakri said the closure of Australia's borders had been especially challenging for Malaysian students studying in Australia.
"We need to resume these people-to-people flows to maintain our close and excellent bilateral relationship. We are very grateful that the governments have prepared the infrastructure and processes to get ready to do this with mutual recognition of health and vaccination certificates."
Mushafiz said he was optimistic about the travel outlook.
"We anticipate a rebound and an uptick in leisure travel demand which should see business travel pick up again. There are many reasons to be optimistic; when we look at passengers carried and advanced bookings, the demand seems stronger than they have been in recent months," he added.
A Boeing 737-800NG aircraft with a seat capacity of 162, including 12 Business Class seats, will be deployed for the relaunch.