Malaysia’s Air Asia Group will add a fifth Australian destination, Adelaide, from its Kuala Lumpur hub from 30 October, bringing an extra 170,000 passengers to the city’s airport based on the new route capacities.

 

AirAsia X, the long-haul, low fare affiliate of the AirAsia Group, will fly four times weekly from KL to Adelaide International Airport making it the only direct low cost service between Malaysia and Adelaide. The airline will increase its flight frequencies to daily services during peak periods between December and February from Kuala Lumpur.

 

Using AirAsia’s Fly-Thru service, Adelaidians will also have direct connections to 17 cities in Asia from KL’s Low Cost Carrier Terminal without having to check in twice. These routes from Adelaide are: Chengdu in China; Bali, Jakarta, Medan and Surabaya in Indonesia; Osaka in Japan; Kota Kinabalu, Kuching, Langkawi and Penang in Malaysia; Singapore; Seoul and Busan in South Korea; Taipei in Taiwan; Bangkok and Phuket in Thailand; and Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam.

 

“Kuala Lumpur is a gateway hub to a range of other destinations such as Brunei, Siem Reap, Shanghai, Bangalore, Tokyo, Vientiane, Alor Setar, Yangon, Kathmandu, Chiang Mai and Krabi,” says AirAsia X CEO Azran Osman-Rani.

 

South Australian Premier, Jay Weatherill, adds: “AirAsia X’s links into China will help us capitalise on our fastest growing international market. South Australia will now exceed its 2020 target for international airline seats into Adelaide. From November, we will welcome more than 12,200 international airline seats each week, well above the 11,500 target.”

 

“Australia is one of our core markets,” comments Osman-Rani. “Our goal since launching our first Australian service on the Gold Coast in 2007 was to operate in the five major states, and we are proud to have accomplished this within six years. We are excited to finally touch down in South Australia and bring some much needed competition to the skies,” he adds. AirAsia X already flies to airports in the Gold Coast, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.

 

The new service was announced today by Osman-Rani during a ceremony attended by SA Premier Weatherill and Tourism Minister Leon Bignell at the Adelaide Convention Centre.

 

[Pictured (left to right): South Australia’s Tourism Minister Leon Bignell; Jay Weatherhill, Premier of South Australia; CEO of AirAsia X Azran Osman-Rani; and Mark Young, Managing Director of Adelaide Airport.]