AirAsia starting flights from Kuala Lumpur to Kolkata, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram in November 2009; plans service to Paris

AirAsia, the low-coast airline based in Malaysia, has announced that it is starting daily,  direct flights from Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, to the Indian cities of Kolkata (West Bengal ) and Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi (Kerala) from November 2009.

The carrier said it will offer all-inclusive, one-way fares from Indian rupees 1,499 (RM 129) for the booking from October 15-20, 2009, for travel between November 19, 2009, and July 31, 2010, to  Kolkata; for travel between November 16, 2009, and July 31, 2010, to Thiruvananthapuram; and for travel between November 12, 2009, and July 31, 2010, to Kochi.

Kathleen Tan, the regional commercial chief of AirAsia, said in a statement that the promotional seats, which are limited, will be available on a first-come-first-served basis and exclusively online on the websites www.airasia.com and mobile.airasia.com

AirAsia also announced that it will start shortly a service to Paris after getting the landing rights required.

Once the approval is received, AirAsia will fly to Orly Airport in the southern suburbs Paris – the airline’s second route in Europe, after it started serviced to London in March 2009.

AirAsia had launched its first route to India by starting flights to Trichy in Tamil Nadu on December 1, 2008. And, AirAsia is the first airline based in South-East Asia to operate direct service to Trichy.

According to AirAsia, launching of the first frequency to Trichy received a tremendous response – with an average load factor of 85%. This encouraged the carrier to raise its second frequency to Trichy, with a second daily, direct daily flight from September 1, 2009. Up to now, AirAsia has flown over 100,000 people to and from Trichy.

While most carriers are reducing services in these tough economic times, Kathleen Tan said in the statement, AirAsia is “aggressively expanding” its route network in India since there is a good demand for low-cost air travel.

The introduction of the Kuala Lumpur-Kolkata route, Kathleen Tan added, will “promote new connectivity and bridge social ties” via AirAsia’s hub in Kuala Lumpur as a gateway to over 130 routes in Asia. These routes include those that AirAsia X, the long-haul affiliate of AirAsia, operates to Perth, Melbourne and Gold Coast (Australia ), Chengdu, Hangzhou and Tianjin (China), London, Abu Dhabi and Taipei – thus bringing AirAsia to a “global stage.”

As per AirAsia’s GoHoliday plan (goholiday.airasia.com), passengers can pick their holiday lodgings from nearly 50,000 hotels spread across several countries in Asia and Europe – including India, Sri Lanka and Australia – together with ground-transfer options and attractive tour packages.

AirAsia is also raising permanently the frequencies of its flights to Johor Bahru and Penang from its hub in Kuala Lumpur from November 19, 2009. In order to celebrate the enhanced fight frequencies, AirAsia said it is offering an “all-in-fare” from Kuala Lumpur-Johor Bahru, starting from as low as RM9, as also scheduling flights from Kuala Lumpur-Penang from RM29.

The promotion is from October 14-18, 2009, for travel between November 19, 2009, and July 31, 2010.