KUALA LUMPUR: Batik Air, formerly Malindo Air, today announced that all bookings are open for daily services from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) to three new destinations — Phuket in Thailand, Surabaya in Indonesia and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.
The airline said this reflects its promise to expand its international network after recently rebranding as Batik Air.
"Batik Air will launch its services to Phuket on Aug 1, Surabaya on Aug 10 and Ho Chi Minh on Sep 15," it said in a statement.
It said the narrow-body Boeing 737-800NG aircraft will be used for the Phuket and Surabaya routes and the B737-8 aircraft that offers Economy class will be used for the Ho Chi Minh City route.
"We are very delighted to introduce the Phuket, Surabaya and Ho Chi Minh City routes, which are popular with both business and leisure travellers," Batik Air chief executive officer Captain Mushafiz Mustafa Bakri said.
"The daily frequency for these routes underscores the strong and growing economic, business and tourism links between Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam.
"The flights will connect Phuket, Surabaya and Ho Chi Minh City to the rest of the world via KLIA as a regional hub.
"The scheduling for the three routes to depart and arrive at various times during the day gives our customers more options to choose the flight which better suits their travel needs."
Mushafiz said as Tourism Malaysia injected dynamism into the country's tourism sector through efforts under the Cuti-Cuti Malaysia campaign, there has never been a better time to visit Malaysia.
"To enable more visitors to experience Malaysia's latest and most exciting offerings, we have gone one step further by introducing these new services."
Batik Air is a subsidiary of the Lion Air Group. Other airlines under its stable include Super Jet, Wings Air, Batik Air Indonesia, Biz Jet, Thai Lion Air and Lion Air.