Maiden AirAsia Flight to Guangzhou takes off on 16th January 2008
The Consul General of Malaysia, Mr. Roslan Abdul Rahman, delivered a speech at the launch of the AirAsia inaugural flight from Kuala Lumpur to Guangzhou on 16 January 2008.
AirAsia, the leading, largest and award-winning low-cost carrier in Asia, which recently won the coveted CAPA Airline of the Year 2007 award officially, launched its direct daily flights to Guangzhou via Baiyun International airport from the LCC Terminal, Kuala Lumpur. It was widely reported that since the announcement on 19 December 2007 of the new route, the low fare on offer has made waves in both Guangzhou and Kuala Lumpur. 6,000 seats were snapped up within the first few hours even before sales advertisements were out, and a total of 25,000 seats were sold in under 3 weeks. This reveals the huge market potential in the two cities, and indicates the airline’s popularity of its low fare deals in the China market. This will be the fourth destination to mainland China after Shenzhen, Xiamen and Macau within the group.
The launch of Guangzhou is part of AirAsia’s strategic move in responding to strong consumer demands from Southern China region for low cost travel. It is also a strategic prologue and milestone for both AirAsia and Baiyun International Airport; which is the 3rd busiest and largest international airport in China.
Besides the presence of the Consul General, Ms Kathleen Tan, Regional Head of Commercial for AirAsia, Mr. Zhang Huoqing, Vice Secretary General of Guangzhou Municipal People's Government, Mr. Chen Xiao Ning, Deputy President, Guangdong Airport Management Corp. Mr. Zhang Kejian, GM, Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport Co. Ltd., Mr. Ma Xin Hang, Deputy General Manager of Baiyun International Airport Ltd., Senior officers of Baiyun Airport and some 100 local and foreign media members were also present.
The Consul General said, “We hope the opening of this new route will accelerate tourism, attracting more visitors to our country with its diversified culture, unique heritage, wide rainforest, beautiful beaches, busy metropolitan, and an array of shopping and good food as Malaysia has some entertaining and modern cities.” He also stated that Malaysia has also encouraged more business investors from abroad and the political and economic stability in the country would definitely foster great business ties between the two countries. He stressed, “We believe that AirAsia will expand their network in Southern China to meet the growing demand here. AirAsia’s decision to open this new route also meets the Malaysia Government’s efforts to make Malaysia the low cost carrier hub for Asia.”
