AirAsia launches Kochi-KL flights
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KOCHI, INDIA 15 December 2009 - In an auspicious celebratory event in the city today, AirAsia - ‘The World’s Best Low-Cost Airline’, celebrated the successful launch of the Kochi – Kuala Lumpur route. Kochi is one of the airline’s latest Indian destinations which opened for sale recently, alongside Kolkata and Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum).
The occasion was graced by the presence of The Consul General of Malaysia for Southern India based in Chennai, Mr. Anuar Kasman, Mr. Noor Arif Mohd. Noor, Director of Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board in Chennai, Mr. Manoharan, Director of Tourism Malaysia - Southern Asia accompanied by AirAsia Regional Head of Commercial, Kathleen Tan. Also present were tourism delegates, hoteliers, travel agents, airport authorities and other distinguished guests and media.
Reinforcing the commitment to expand its Indian network, AirAsia launched three new routes from Kuala Lumpur to Kolkata, Kochi and Trivandrum which opened for sale on 15th October 2009. Since the opening of these routes less than two months ago, AirAsia has experienced an overwhelming response, of nearly 100,000 seats sold. It is noteworthy to highlight that AirAsia is the only airline from Kuala Lumpur which is servicing the flight to Kochi with direct daily flights.
Kathleen Tan, Regional Head of Commercial Airasia said, “With Kochi now added to our extensive network, AirAsia is unlocking the potential of international air travel from Kuala Lumpur to Southern India and its surrounding areas. We are thrilled to be serving Kochi direct, a huge market that no other airline is serving directly. With the commencement of this direct service to Kuala Lumpur, the people of Kerala and India can now use Kochi as a gateway to our extensive route network to ASEAN and beyond. Since opening of the route, we have noticed a strong pick-up with over 82% load factor recorded. We have sold approximately 35,000 seats for the Kochi - Kuala Lumpur route, an evident that the direct daily flights to this route has been long awaited by the general public. AirAsia is very committed to expand this market and provide an excellent opportunity to travelers from India to enjoy our revolutionary low fares at 5-star service,”
“Moving forward, we are looking into expanding our route network in India and opening-up the market. Amongst the destinations which are on our network radar include Chennai, Hyderabad, Banglore and Mumbai, so stay tuned for our latest development on these exciting routes.” concluded Kathleen
Kuala Lumpur, the gateway of Southeast Asia is a bustling metropolitan city, full of excitement and the center and symbol of Malaysia’s rapid rise as an economic powerhouse. Thus with AirAsia’s strong domestic high frequency network, people of Kochi may connect to Malaysia and visit beautiful locations like Penang, Langkawi, Sabah, Sarawak and tap on AirAsia’s incredible network using Kuala Lumpur as a gateway to the many points served by AirAsia to destinations such as China, Bali, Phuket, Australia, Abu Dhabi, London and many more - all with our low fares!
Kochi, known as the ‘Venice of India’ for its network of waterways, backwaters and lakes offers an incomparable beauty and unique experience. Palm fringed narrow canals winding through the vast expanse of paddy fields and the neat tiny hamlets lined up along the sides of the canals are sights to behold. Kochi is also renowned amongst the Hindu devotees in Malaysia for the pilgrimage and religious purposes performed at the Holy Sabari Hills. The inclusion of AirAsia’s flight to Kochi is indeed timely as the peak season for this religious ritual begins late December and indeed there’s a surge of demand for this new service during this season.
AirAsia launched its first route to Trichy, India which is situated in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu on December 1 2008, and is the first airline in South East Asia to fly directly to the city. The launch of the first frequency to the city recorded an overwhelming response with an average load factor of 85% which led the airline to launch its 2nd frequency to the city with AirAsia’s 2nd direct daily flight on 1 September, 2009. To date, AirAsia has carried over 120,000 guests to and from Trichy.
For all flights to India, AirAsia utilizes a brand new modern fleet of comfortable and spacious Airbus A320 aircraft. This is complemented by a variety of palatable hot meal options onboard, convenient and renowned customer service, friendly cabin crew and more. AirAsia encourages guests to pre-book their meals, and check in baggage online for greater savings! AirAsia is also the first airline in the world to abolish fuel surcharges and administrative fees from all its international and domestic flights, to make travel more affordable and accessible for all.
For booking of flights, in place are convenient booking mechanisms through AirAsia’s website, www.airasia.com and mobile devices at mobile.airasia.com, presenting guests with utmost convenience, where a myriad of services are instantly available at their fingertips.
AirAsia through its one stop travel portal, GoHoliday, at goholiday.airasia.com also offers some great online hotel deals and tour packages where guests may choose their holiday lodgings from over 50,000 hotels to suit their budget.
AirAsia is currently the largest low-cost carrier in Asia and services the most extensive route network in South East Asia with over 70 destinations across 20 countries and 9 major hubs in Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Kota Kinabalu), Thailand (Bangkok, Phuket) and Indonesia (Jakarta, Bali, Surabaya, Bandung). It has grown from a modest two aircraft to its current fleet of 85, servicing over 130 routes in just 7 years.
FLIGHT SCHEDULE KUALA LUMPUR - KOCHI
Flight No. Destinations
(Flights from/to) Depart Arrive Frequency
AK 203 Kuala Lumpur Kochi 14:50 16:30 Daily
AK 204 Kochi Kuala Lumpur 17:00 23:50 Daily
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