AirAsia Launches Direct Flight Daily From Sabah To Taipei

[Sri Ramani K. 0]

MH's contender

 

Taipei, 25 November 2009 – “Best Airline of the Year 2009”, AirAsia today launches direct flights daily to Taipei from Kota Kinabalu, further expanding its international connectivity from East Malaysia.

 

This new Kota Kinabalu – Taipei route, operated by AirAsia will be open-for-sale on 25th November 2009, with direct flights daily commencing on 15th January 2010. To celebrate the introduction of the new routes, AirAsia will be offering all-in-fare for Kota Kinabalu – Taipei from RM99* (TWD699), booking starts from 25th to 29th November 2009 for the travel period from 15th January to 30th October 2010. Promotional seats are limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis and made exclusively online via www.airasia.com and mobile.airasia.com.

 

AirAsia recently launched its first route connecting Taipei from Kuala Lumpur with only 5 flights a week. The Kuala Lumpur – Taipei route received an overwhelming response with more than 20,000 seats sold in the first 12 hours since its sales announcement on 23rd April 2009. In meeting the extra demand, AirAsia announced daily flights from Kuala Lumpur to Taipei in July 2009. Shortly within 6 months, the airline further expanded its network connectivity to Taipei by opening two more direct flights from Bangkok – Taipei in August 2009 and the latest addition today from Kota Kinabalu – Taipei.

 

The rapid expansion of its connectivity indicates the strong and pent up demand for the new routes and a positive indication that regional markets in this part of the world are starving for low fares. Although shadowed by economic uncertainties, AirAsia is confident that with aggressive marketing and low fares will be able to entice not only holiday makers, but the Taiwanese public and Malaysians who reside, work and study in Taiwan to be able to fly home to connect with their families frequently.

 

AirAsia held a media briefing for the Taiwanese media today to announce the Taipei-Kota Kinabalu route, with the presence of Director of Tourism Malaysia office in Taipei, Mr Muhamad Nasir Pahmi.

 

Ms Kathleen Tan, Regional Head of Commercial AirAsia group said, “We launched direct flights to Taipei from Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok this year and the response has been amazing. The traveling trend to places such as Taipei is increasing and with growing potential household income in East Malaysia, we believe there will also be strong potential demand from East Malaysian travelers to fly directly to the city. The timing of our inaugural flight in January is great as we can ride on the peak Chinese New Year season both ends.”

 

“With the presence of growing Chinese ethnic population in Kota Kinabalu who are willing to spend more on leisure and a growing interest in East Malaysia to explore Orient cities, we feel that this is a strategic move to create interest and stimulate tourism demand in Taipei. Kota Kinabalu famed for its natural wonders and its scenic beauty is equally captivating to Taiwanese. We have studied the growing travel interests from both ends and it’s a perfect fit with AirAsia as the integral connecting bridge,” she said.

 

Mr Muhamad Nasir Pahmi, Director of Tourism Malaysia office in Taipei said, “We are working very closely with AirAsia and hope to raise more awareness and interest into the hidden gems of East Malaysia. Kota Kinabalu has so much potential that can captivate and interest our friends from Taiwan. This new route, which is due to begin in January 2010, will help to enhance that interest into a catalyst of culture. There’s simply so much to do, see and experience in Kota Kinabalu and East Malaysia. We invite and usher the opening of a new doorway into this exclusive realm of wonders.”

 

Kota Kinabalu (Sabah) has the most developed tourism infrastructure for gentle beach life or more active watersports, which made this beautiful coast one of the most coveted tourist destinations of the world. Not to mention the Mount Kinabalu is one of the stunning Tourist Attractions in Sabah alluring tourists with its magnificence and grandeur. Situated in Sabah’s Kinabalu Park the Mount Kinabalu is the third tallest mountain of Southeast Asia. The Mount Kinabalu stands tall at 4095 meters above sea level. Some other primary attractions of Sabah are its outstanding national parks, which include Kinabalu National Park, the Crocker Range Park, and the Sepilok Orang Utan Sanctuary. Sabah is also the gateway to fascinating cultures, beautiful scenery and magical islands. From the world-famous Sipadan Island to the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park, there’s so much to see and discover in this natural paradise.

 

The new route will be serviced by the Airbus A320 aircraft with a 180 passenger capacity. To date, AirAsia and AirAsia X now fly direct to Taipei from Kuala Lumpur (1 flight daily), Bangkok (1 flight daily) and Kota Kinabalu (1 flight daily beginning 15th January 2010). With excellent air connectivity between Taipei and Kota Kinabalu, mutual economic benefits can be expected as AirAsia’s low fares and innovative services will definitely stimulate more travel both inbound and outbound from these two destinations. Taiwanese visitors to Malaysia must apply for a social visit visa that costs NT$ 240 that is valid for 2 months.

 

To add value, AirAsia, under GoHoliday at goholiday.airasia.com, has also lined up some great online hotel deals to stretch the dollar where they may choose their holiday lodgings from over 50,000 hotels. We encourage our guests to purchase food, baggage, hot seats online to enjoy more discounts and savings through airasia.com.

 

Stay tuned! Follow AirAsia on Twitter, Facebook, and AirAsia’s Blog where we will provide real time updates on our latest promotion. Photos will be available on www.flickr.com/airasia.

 

*All fares quoted are applicable for one-way travel only

 

Flights From Departure / Arrival Flight No. Frequency

KOTA KINABALU - TAIPEI 06.00am / 09.20am AK 6318 DAILY

TAIPEI – KOTA KINABALU 09.50am / 13.10pm AK 6319 DAILY

[Kenneth Chong WT 0]

MH's contender

 

 

 

Flights From Departure / Arrival Flight No. Frequency

KOTA KINABALU - TAIPEI 06.00am / 09.20am AK 6318 DAILY

TAIPEI – KOTA KINABALU 09.50am / 13.10pm AK 6319 DAILY

 

Any news of KCH-TPE direct?

[BC Tam 2]

Well done AK !

Cannot recall for sure if the previous AK flew to Taipei, Kaoshiung for sure though

Any idea which airport in Taipei it will serve ?

Very likely this may revive the number of Taiwanese tourist arrivals into Sabah

And it wouldn't be any surprise if MH reacts by reducing her frequency soon, or worse still, drop BKI-Taipei altogether

[Waiping 12]

I am quite surprised that AK managed to keep this under wrap until now. For this I really salute AK.

 

Speaking of which most of my colleagues went on a booking frenzy this morning and they managed to get return flight for around RM260+. Not bad. Timing also very good with arrival in TPE around 9.30am and return around 10am. MH flight arrive TPE at late night and return early morning at 8am. Not sure good timing lah.

[flee 5]

RM 260+ is a good fare. I got my D7 KUL-TPE tickets (travelling May/June 2010) for about RM 333.

[Andi C 0]

All my friends with Taiwanese boyfriend/girlfriend, husband/wife & those with half Malaysian/Taiwanese parentage were so excited when they saw the newspaper ad. Literally jumped up & down & 'teriak-teriak'

When they got the lowest RM213 return, they 'teriak' even louder!

Gosh!!

[Isaac 0]

Cannot recall for sure if the previous AK flew to Taipei,

Yes. They did. The routing was KUL-BKI-TPE-BKI-KUL. If my memory serves me correctly, the route existed for two years only.

[Kenneth T 0]

A big blow to MH and what i can see is the increase arrival of Taiwanese tourist in KK

[flee 5]

A big blow to MH and what i can see is the increase arrival of Taiwanese tourist in KK

Maybe MH will now assign A333 or B772 to this route to better compete with AK. We can expect AK to launch some new routes next year as they will have more new planes arriving. This year, they sent most of the new planes to Thai and Indonesia AirAsia and only added two or three new planes to the AK fleet. As such we did not see many new routes started.

[BC Tam 2]

Maybe MH will now assign A333 or B772 to this route to better compete with AK

Hah hah hah, and what are the chances of that happening ?

Well maybe, based on once weekly frequency perhaps

[Waiping 12]

MH is using B734 to service BKI - TPE so I don't expect AK to use their limited A330 for this route.

[Ashmil Abd Ghani 0]

Hah hah hah, and what are the chances of that happening ?

Well maybe, based on once weekly frequency perhaps

 

Next year MH plan to lease 2 more B738,so once per week service is good for them,just to show MH part of the contender of BKI-TPE route..haha...

[flee 5]

MH is using B734 to service BKI - TPE so I don't expect AK to use their limited A330 for this route.

They already said that the A320 would fly this route. That was why I suggested that MH up the ante and deploy more comfortable wide bodied planes for this route - this is a measure that AK might not be able to respond to!

[Mike P 0]

They already said that the A320 would fly this route. That was why I suggested that MH up the ante and deploy more comfortable wide bodied planes for this route - this is a measure that AK might not be able to respond to!

 

AK uses A330 to ply on KL - KCH route once per day until the end of Nov.

Edited November 26, 2009 by Mike P

[Isaac 0]

Maybe MH will now assign A333 or B772 to this route to better compete with AK.

MH used to deploy the 333 on this route last time. The last service was sometime during SARS, if my memory serves me correctly. The load was very bad. I mean really bad.