Southeast Asia’s biggest low-cost carrier yesterday launched its maiden flights from Taipei to Sabah, Malaysia, after starting service between Taipei and Kuala Lumpur in July and between Taipei and Bangkok in September.
Despite the typically slow season ahead of the Lunar New Year, passenger rates for the flights were better than expected, the Malaysia-based company said.
“I was a bit worried at the beginning because of the low season in January, but today’s passenger load in both directions saw over 100 passengers,” Kathleen Tan (陳凱霖), AirAsia’s senior vice president for the Asia-Pacific region, said at a press conference yesterday.
More than 30,000 tickets for the new route have been sold since they became available online, the company said, adding that most Taiwanese visitors to Sabah are young adults.
Tan said that the company is planning to add Kaohsiung-Kuala Lumpur flights and a new route from Taipei to Phuket in the south of Thailand this year because of increasing demand.
“Last November, we established a hub in Phuket and now we are in the process of estimating the direct flight time between Taipei and the island,” she said. “If it takes less than four hours, we will offer a Taipei-Phuket route.”
In addition, a total of nine new Malaysia-India routes will be announced at the end of this month, including eight from Kuala Lumpur and one from Penang, Tan said, adding that there are no direct flights from Taiwan to India.
Visits from Malaysia to Taiwan edged up 15 percent last year, marking the only increase among visits from Southeast Asian nations to Taiwan, Tan said.
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