VISAKHAPATNAM:Malaysia-based AirAsia Berhad Airlines is planning to expand its operations to four more Indian cities, including Coimbatore, in the near future. The cities are yet to be finalised. The low-cost airline is also keen on converting the tri-weekly flight from Visakhapatnam to Kuala Lumpur to a daily flight, considering the patronage. The company is currently operating flights to Kuala Lumpur from eight cities in India.
During a media interaction here Wednesday, AirAsia Berhad CEO Aireen Omar said that the flight operator was keen on increasing the frequency of flights to Visakhapatnam besides connecting other parts of Malaysia depending on the performance of the existing flights. The tri-weekly flight from Vizag to Kuala Lumpur is witnessing about 80 per cent occupancy which is expected to improve further during the holiday season.
“India is a very important market for us and we are committed to give our Indian customers quality service at low fares. Besides travelling to Kuala Lumpur, air travellers from Vizag use the flight to connect to Australian cities apart from Indonesia, Singapore and Brunei,” Aireen Omar said. According to her, the Fly-Thru product from AirAsia Group enables customers to connect seamlessly to their onward flight to 14 destinations without any hassles like transit visas. Singapore, Brunei and Phuket are the top three Fly-Thru destinations selected by travellers from Vizag. The CEO stated that the AirAsia group is examining the possibility of launching operations from Thailand to Vizag depending on the success of the Vizag-Kuala Lumpur flights by the low-cost airline. AirAsia is also contemplating connecting Vizag with Chennai, Kolkata and Goa, based on demand.
“We are closely monitoring the performance of all the routes we operate and have mapped our future plans for Indian market,” Aireen Omar said. She also added that AirAsia Berhad would consider making Vizag a hub for its operations, if government offers special incentives.