The rebound of air travel demand has moved airlines to slowly bring back its pre-pandemic network and capacity. As such, AirAsia Philippines has reopened its flights between Manila and Kota Kinabalu.
Last Friday May 27, AirAsia flew from Manila to Kota Kinabalu’s capital city Sabah and back, signaling the reopening of one of its important ASEAN routes. So far, AirAsia is looking to fly between Manila and Sabah twice a week.
A survey commissioned by AirAsia Philippines in December 2021 revealed that Filipinos are willing to travel in smaller groups this year with their families (69%), partners (40%) and close friends (24%) should international travel protocols relax. Top destinations picked by Filipino travelers include Singapore (73%) and Japan (71%). Ranking ninth in the list of top preferred international destinations of Filipinos is Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, with 47% of the participants including the destination in their top choices.
Timetable
Based on the AirAsia timetable, flight Z2501 departs 12:10am from Manila and arrives at Kota Kinabalu two hours later every Tuesday and Saturday. The return flight Z2502 departs Sabah at 2:50am and arrives in Manila at 4:50am!
Aside from Kota Kinabalu, AirAsia Philippines is looking forward to resuming flights to Hong Kong and Bali this June!
“Our resumption of flights to key ASEAN destinations starting with Kota Kinabalu signifies our recovery especially in the international market. We hope to revive the tourism and economy of Sabah with the resumption of the Kota Kinabalu flights. We believe that the easing of safety protocols and test requirements by our neighboring countries have also revived the urge to travel among Filipinos.”
Ricky Isla, AirAsia Philippines CEO
First love never dies. I fell in love with airplanes and aviation when I was a kid. My dream was to become a pilot, but destiny led me to another path: to be an aviation digital media content creator and a small business owner. My passion for aviation inspires me to bring you quality content through my website and social accounts. Aviation is indeed in my blood and blog!
