AIRASIA launched its maiden flight from Kuching to Tawau on Dec 5, becoming the only airline to connect the capital of Sarawak to the third-largest city in Sabah.
The four times weekly direct flight departed Kuching International Airport at 10.50am with Sarawak Tourism Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, AirAsia Director of Government Relations Zamani Rafique and other officials on board.
The aircraft was greeted with a water cannon salute upon landing in Tawau Airport at 12.45pm and was received by Sabah Deputy Chief Minister cum Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment Datuk Christina Liew.
AirAsia Malaysia CEO Riad Asmat said the new service is part of its continuing commitment to enhance air connectivity in East Malaysia.
“We’ve flown 3.8 million guests in and out of Kuching and 1.1 million guests in and out of Tawau, up 19% and 30% respectively from last year, and we can expect this number to further increase with this new route,” he said.
Liew said the AirAsia Kuching-Tawau inaugural flight augurs well for the Ministry’s current efforts to promote East Coast tourism, in particular Sandakan and Tawau.
“We are in the process of tapping Tawau’s potential as yet another premier holiday destination for domestic and foreign tourists alike through the 30 tour packages launched earlier this year.”
To celebrate the inaugural flight, AirAsia is offering celebratory fares from as low as RM49* for either way from Kuching or Tawau. The promotional fare is available for booking on airasia.com and the AirAsia mobile app from now until Dec 15, 2018, for travel dates up to Dec 16, 2019.
AirAsia is also offering FREE SEATS** for Kota Kinabalu-Sibu and Kota-Kinabalu-Bintulu. The promotion is available for booking on airasia.com and the AirAsia mobile app from now until Dec 16, 2018, for travel period between Jan 1, 2019 and Feb 4, 2020.
AirAsia Malaysia (carrier code AK) now flies to 12 destinations from Kuching - Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu, Kota Bharu, Johor Bahru, Bintulu, Penang, Sibu, Tawau, Miri, Shenzhen, Pontianak and Singapore. The airline also flies from Tawau to Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu, Johor Bahru and Kuching.
