Amid a significant revival in travel demand between Malaysia and China routes, AirAsia is primed to increase its flights across these two countries. The airline foresees an acceleration in forward sales in the upcoming months, indicating a robust return of tourism and business travel.
Strong Demand for Travel
In July, the average load factor or the number of passengers carried per flight for both AirAsia Malaysia (AK) and AirAsia X Malaysia (D7) flights to and from China stands at about 80 percent. Certain routes have shown stellar performance, such as Kuala Lumpur-Shanghai, Kota Kinabalu-Guangzhou, Kuala Lumpur-Nanning, and Kota Kinabalu-Wuhan. These routes are projected to record up to a 95 percent load factor in the forthcoming months.
Both airlines collectively sold over 320,000 seats on the Malaysia-China route from March to early July this year. This figure represents approximately 30 percent compared to the same timeframe pre-Covid in 2019. Interestingly, about 75 percent of the sold seats belong to Chinese nationals, underscoring that Malaysia remains a favorite destination for tourists from China.
New Routes and Increased Frequency
In response to this robust and anticipated demand, AirAsia Malaysia (AK) plans to reintroduce the route from Kota Kinabalu to Hangzhou. The route will start with three flights weekly from September 2, 2023. Furthermore, AirAsia X Malaysia (D7) plans to scale up its services. The changes include increasing flights from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing (Daxing) from four to five times weekly starting September 1, from Kuala Lumpur to Shanghai from four to seven times weekly from September 15, and from Kuala Lumpur to Hangzhou from three to four times weekly starting September 30.
AirAsia Malaysia CEO, Riad Asmat, expressed his excitement about this surge in travel interest between Malaysia and China. He emphasized the airline’s dedication to connecting second-tier cities to the world. Plans are underway to increase the frequency of the Kota Kinabalu-Hangzhou route to seven flights weekly starting in October, depending on demand. “We look forward to expanding our connectivity and frequency between Malaysia and China from other hubs as well in the future,” he added.
A Positive Outlook
AirAsia X Malaysia CEO, Benyamin Ismail, echoed Asmat’s sentiments, highlighting the strong demand for medium haul travel in their Chinese network. As part of their expansion strategy, they plan to add more frequencies to popular Chinese destinations like Beijing (Daxing), Shanghai, and Hangzhou. This not only creates additional links but also bolsters trade, tourism, and investments between the two countries.
As of now, AirAsia Malaysia (AK) operates 14 routes to/from China with over 104 flights weekly. In comparison, AirAsia X Malaysia (D7) flies four routes to/from China with more than 22 flights weekly. The continued growth of these routes illustrates AirAsia’s commitment to meeting the needs of its customers and capitalizing on the rebounding travel demand.
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