AIRASIA recently added Fukuoka to its list of destinations in Japan, with its inaugural flight landing on Kyushu island’s largest city on March 1.
Fukuoka is now AirAsia’s fourth direct destination in Japan from Kuala Lumpur, after Tokyo, Osaka and Sapporo, and more than 156,000 seats per year will be available on this new route.
AirAsia X Malaysia CEO Benyamin Ismail joined passengers on the inaugural flight to Fukuoka, together with members of the Malaysian media. Also on the same flight was AirAsia X Malaysia board member Datuk Fam Ee Lee.
Welcoming them to the city were Fukuoka Prefecture Governor Hiroshi Ogawa, Fukuoka City deputy mayor Masanao Nakazono, Osaka Regional Civil Aviation Bureau Fukuoka Airport administrator Fumito Ohya, Fukuoka International Airport representative director, president & CEO Tetsuya Nagasao, and Tourism Malaysia Tokyo deputy director Shahrul Aman Sabir Ahmad.
Upon arriving in Fukuoka, Benyamin said: “We forsee great growth of the Japan market, and we will continue to seek out new routes and more destinations to bring our two nations closer.”
Governor Ogawa said he regarded the new route as an important development for Kyushu prefecture, especially with Malaysia and Japan looking to forge closer cultural and economic ties.
He added: “When (Malaysia) Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad visited Japan last year, I expressed a hope for a direct flight between Kyushu and Kuala Lumpur. I am grateful that AirAsia has been able to make this dream come true.
“We will be having a booth at the upcoming Matta Fair (March 15-17) to promote Fukuoka as a destination. We are also working on expanding our Muslim-friendly facilities around the city in order to appeal to more Malaysians.”
AirAsia X flies four times weekly between Kuala Lumpur and Fukuoka. To promote the route, AirAsia is offering all-inclusive fares from as low as RM299 (or JPY11,900) for standard seats, and RM1,099 (or JPY39,000) for its award-winning Premium Flatbed.
Fares are available for booking at airasia.com or via the AirAsia mobile app from now until March 9, 2019, for travel through Oct 28, 2019.
