KUALA LUMPUR: The influx of charter flights from China to Kuala Lumpur has surged, introducing new routes and charter flights in anticipation of the Chinese New Year and spring festival holidays beginning in January 2024.
In a statement recently, the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry said Malaysia had received six charters to date.
These include Firefly route Nanjing-Tawau (starting Jan 23), Batik Air route Chengdu-Langkawi (starting Feb 5), Batik Air route Zhengzhou-KUL (starting Feb 5), Batik Air route Chengdu-Kota Kinabalu (starting Feb 9), Batik Air route Chongqing-Langkawi (starting Feb 10) and Batik Air route Xian-KUL (starting Feb 11).
"For 2024, Malaysia received several new routes from local and foreign airlines, namely China Eastern Airlines route Beijing-Kuala Lumpur (four times weekly, starting Jan 31), Loong Air route Hangzhou-KUL (three times weekly, starting Feb 1), Batik Air route Kunming-KUL (4 times weekly, starting Feb 9), and upcoming Batik Air route Zhangjiajie-KUL (three times weekly, starting Feb 18).
"Motac minister Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing as well as representatives from Malaysia Airlines and Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad welcomed passengers aboard the charter flight arriving at Kuala Lumpur International Airport from Shenyang, China," the ministry said.
The flight, MH8827, was a special charter carrying 287 passengers on an Airbus 330 from Shenyang, located in Liaoning province, northeast China.
The ministry said the announcement of visa-free travel for Chinese travellers effective Dec 1, 2023, has led to increased inquiries and bookings to Malaysia from China.
"Trip.com has reported that Malaysia will receive a 53.9 per cent increase in inbound travel to Malaysia for the Chinese New Year in 2024 compared with last year.
"In 2023, Malaysia welcomed 1.47 million arrivals from China, an exponential growth of 593.4 per cent in comparison with the same period in 2022 with 212,603 arrivals."