AirAsia welcomes inaugural flight to Melaka

Photo caption: (Fourth from left) AirAsia Malaysia CEO Riad Asmat; Melaka Chief Minister YAB Tuan Adly bin Zahari; Deputy Minister of Primary Industries and Member of Parliament for Hang Tuah Jaya YB Datuk Seri Shamsul Iskandar bin Haji Mohd Akin; Transport and Public Facilities Exco Member YB Datuk Mohd Sofi bin Abdul Wahab; Melaka Human Resource and Community Exco Member YB Tuan G. Saminathan receiving AirAsia's inaugural flight from Penang to Melaka.

MELAKA, 1 July 2019 - AirAsia, the world’s best low-cost airline for the 11th consecutive year has celebrated and marked the arrival of its inaugural flight from Penang to the historic state of Melaka.

AirAsia Flight AK 6284, utilising an Airbus A320 aircraft, departed Penang International Airport at 1.20pm and landed at 2.25pm in Melaka International Airport, where it was welcomed by a water cannon salute upon arrival. 

Guests on board the inaugural flight were greeted by Melaka Chief Minister YAB Tuan Adly bin Zahari; Deputy Minister of Primary Industries and Member of Parliament for Hang Tuah Jaya YB Datuk Seri Shamsul Iskandar bin Haji Mohd Akin; Melaka Public Works, Transport and Public Facilities Exco Member YB Datuk Mohd Sofi bin Abdul Wahab; Melaka Human Resource and Community Exco Member YB Tuan G. Saminathan; AirAsia Malaysia CEO Riad Asmat and AirAsia Regional Commercial Head Amanda Woo.

Melaka Chief Minister YAB Tuan Adly bin Zahari said, “We are very happy to welcome AirAsia to Melaka. We applaud AirAsia’s effort in launching this new route, which coincides with Visit Melaka Year 2019 (VMY2019). Melaka received 17.02 million tourists in 2018, with 33.41% of them comprising foreign

tourists. This year, our target is to hit 20 million tourists. Under the VMY2019 initiative, we’ve introduced a variety of attractive accommodation packages and interesting activities to cater to more international and local tourists. We look forward to welcome more visitors to Melaka through AirAsia’s network.”

AirAsia Malaysia CEO Riad Asmat said, “This is a proud day for AirAsia and the people of two UNESCO world heritage sites and cities - Penang and Melaka. The new route not only provides a boost to local tourism, but also contributes to long-lasting economic growth for the two cities. Our unrivalled connectivity opens up new flying options for the people of Melaka, particularly for those looking to travel to East Malaysia or onwards to other Asean destinations. We wish to thank the state government and all our partners for their support in making this route possible, and look forward to exploring more opportunities to further grow our presence in Melaka.”

Melaka becomes AirAsia’s sixth domestic destination and 14th route from its Penang hub. AirAsia now flies from Penang to Melaka, Kuala Lumpur, Johor Bahru, Langkawi, Kota Kinabalu, Kuching, Singapore, Jakarta, Surabaya, Medan, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok and Phuket.  

AirAsia is currently offering 20% off on all seats, all flights. Bookings are available on airasia.com and the AirAsia mobile app from now until 7 July 2019, for the travel period of 8 July to 21 November 2019. Simply log in and pay with BigPay to access seats at the lowest fares.

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