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