AirAsia to increase flights, launch new services
AirAsia will add seven more flights to its Kuala Lumpur-Hanoi schedule from next month and launch service between HCM City and the Malaysian capital.
Bui Duc Hanh, Hanoi station manager of AirAsia, told the Daily on May 2 that the Malaysian low-cost carrier would begin one more daily Hanoi-Kuala Lumpur flight from June 19 in addition to the existing daily flight on the route.
AirAsia will use the 180seat Airbus A320 aircraft for the additional flights, which are launched in response to an increasingly strong demand for air travel on the Hanoi-Kuala Lumpur run.
To mark the inauguration of the extra flights, AirAsia will implement its airfare promotion from May 8 to 10 with a single trip from Hanoi to Kuala Lumpur and Thailand’s capital of Bangkok starting from US$15, exclusive of taxes and surcharges.
The discount airfares will account for 25% of the seats on the daily flights that AirAsia currently operates between Hanoi and Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok. The airfares will apply from June 19 this year to March 29 by 2008.
Hanh said passengers would pay the US$14 airport fee at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi with the tickets they purchase online at www.airasia.com and the airline’s agents.
AirAsia has carried nearly 105,000 passengers on the Hanoi-Bangkok flights since the service began in October 2005 and nearly 32,000 passengers on the Hanoi Kuala Lumpur flights since October by 2006, Hanh said.
Airlines reported high growth in the number of Vietnamese traveling by air to Malaysia and other regional countries during Vietnam’s Reunification Day and International Labor Day holidays.
Malaysia Airlines in Vietnam said tourists accounted for 80% of the almost -full flights the carrier operated from Hanoi and HCM City during the longer public and weekend holidays. general manager Terence Krish Swampillai told the Daily on May 2 that the airline was working on increasing frequency from the 23 weekly flights between the two countries.
Jetstar Airways estimated passengers made up for 95% of the 180 seats on the Airbus A320 plane the low -cost carrier runs on the HCM City Singapore router during the holidays.
Jetstar on May 2 started to give passengers one ticket for every one ticket they book until May 8 for departing from HCM City to Singapore from July 1 to September 30.
Viet calculated the return tickets of the “1 To Buy -2 To Fly” programme for two persons cost some US$298 nett.
The weekend and public holidays also saw a surge in passengers on domestic flights run by Pacific Airlines, Vietnam Airlines and its subsidiary Vietnam Air Services Co (VASCO).
The airlines said their domestic flights were fully occupied by holidaymakers but did not compare the number of passengers with that of the same period by 2006. Vietnam Airlines has added more than 40 domestic flights from April 26 to May 3.
Category: Business
