AirAsia to open first int'l route

AirAsia to open first int'l route

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian budget carrier AirAsia will open its first international route next month - a daily flight from Kuala Lumpur to Thailand's resort island of Phuket, its chief executive said.

The first Kuala Lumpur-Phuket flight on Dec. 8 will mark a step forward in AirAsia's plan to expand from a domestic carrier into a no-frills regional airline.

Tony Fernandes, AirAsia's chief executive, told reporters late Thursday that a one-way fare on the new route would cost about 90 ringgit (US$24) and that he expected 10,000 passengers per month, the national news agency, Bernama, reported.

The airline's next new route would be from the Malaysian resort island of Langkawi to Bangkok, which was expected to start in January, Fernandes said.

The flight details follow the announcement earlier this week of a joint venture between AirAsia and Shin Corp., a Thai company controlled by the family of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Fernandes also said recently that AirAsia is hopeful of getting landing rights at Singapore's Changi airport next year, and the company has plans to fly to Indonesia and further afield after that. --AFP