Malaysia’s low cost airline, AirAsia, will start direct flights from Penang to Chennai by October.
AirAsia chief executive officer Tony Fernandes said Malaysia’s Transport Ministry had approved the plan, and currently the airline is ironing out the details.
“We hope to have a daily flight there. It will take us three to four months to finalise the details,” he said after a ceremony to mark the inaugural of Singapore to Penang direct flight at the Penang International Airport (PIA) yesterday.
Malaysia (AP) Budget airline AirAsia has quarantined five crew members who were on a domestic flight that carried Malaysia’s second confirmed swine flu victim, a report said Sunday. The crew of flight AK5358, which flew from Kuala Lumpur to the northern city of Penang on Wednesday, was taken off duty Saturday, The Star newspaper’s Internet edition reported, quoting an AirAsia spokesman.
The flight was taken by Malaysia’s second confirmed swine flu case, a 21-year-old female student who had arrived in Kuala Lumpur on a Malaysian Airlines flight earlier Wednesday from Newark in the United States. She was hospitalized after reaching Penang.
Malaysia’s first confirmed victim is a 21-year-old friend of the woman, who also was on the Malaysian Airlines flight. He has been hospitalized in Kuala Lumpur.
The Star quoted Health Ministry Deputy Director-General Ramlee Rahmat as saying that both were in stable condition. He said all 101 passengers on the AirAsia flight would be put under home quarantine.
Of the 119 passengers on the Malaysian Airlines flight, 95 have been located and put under home quarantine along with 15 crew members, Ramlee was quoted as saying. The 95 80 Malaysians and 15 foreigners all are healthy, he said.
The ministry is still trying to locate one remaining Malaysian and 23 foreigners, he said. The World Health Organization has confirmed at least 8,480 human cases of swine flu in nearly 40 countries, mostly in the U.S. and Mexico, including 72 deaths.
Air Asia launched it s Low cost long haul operations from Kuala Lumpur To London Stanstead last week. The Aircraft is a Ex- Air Canada A 340. Initial publicity suggested fares in Asia of RM499 and in the UK of £99 one way on the airline. However, checking the website now, prices have risen considerably, with a return fare from London Stansted in June costing £645 return. Additional charges are levied for all checked baggage (£4 [up to 15kg]; £12 up to 20kg and £22 [up to 25kg] each way), as well as amenity bags and in-flight entertainment. The A340-300 aircraft will be configured with 256 economy seats (with a seat pitch of 32 inches) and 30 “XL” seats (60-inch pitch)
As per AirAsia timetable on the airlines’ website, the largest LCC in Asia will triple the number of flights it operates on the Kuala Lumpur – Singapore route from 01DEC08.
It will offer up to 6 daily flights
AK121 KUL0730 – 0820SIN
AK123 KUL1000 – 1055SIN
AK129 KUL1245 – 1335SIN
AK125 KUL1500 – 1550SIN
AK131 KUL1700 – 1750SIN
AK127 KUL1950 – 2050SIN
AK122 SIN0855 – 0945KUL
AK124 SIN1130 – 1225KUL
AK130 SIN1405 – 1455KUL
AK126 SIN1615 – 1705KUL
AK132 SIN1820 – 1910KUL
AK128 SIN2140 – 2240KUL
Air Asia, an international low cost carrier, will enter the Indian market with its first service to the country on the Kuala Lumpur-Tiruchi-Kuala Lumpur sector, scheduled for launch from November 1.
The airline had obtained the security clearance from Bureau of Civil Aviation Security and is awaiting clearance from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation for commencing operations.
A two-member team from the airline, led by Ahmad Ismail, Manager, Standards and New Stations, Air Asia, visited the airport on Thursday for finalisation of the operational and logistical details. They held separate discussions with S. Sreekumar, Airport Director, and T. H. Radhakrishnan, Station Manager, Air India, which will be the ground handling agency.
Speaking to The Hindu after inspecting the facilities at the new terminal building under construction at the airport, Mr. Ismail said the flights on the Kuala Lumpur-Tiruchi-Kuala Lumpur sector would be a daily service. The airline would deploy an all-economy class Airbus 320, with a passenger capacity of 180, on the route. The flight from Kuala Lumpur would arrive here at 8.55 a.m. and depart at 9.25 a.m. (Airports Authority of India officials at the Tiruchi Airport have already cleared the schedule, sources said).
Mr. Ismail said the airline would look to connecting more Indian destinations after the launch of the Tiruchi service. Tiruchi, he said, offered a good potential and the airline would seek to tap the central and south Tamil Nadu market. Meanwhile, airport sources said the state-of-the-art new terminal building, being built at an investment of Rs.70 crore, would become operational by the end of this financial year. Airport sources said Silk Air has also evinced interest in launching services in the Tiruchi-Singapore sector.
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