Renowned low-cost airline, AirAsia has announced the expansion of its domestic network from Johor Bahru with two new destinations, Ipoh and Alor Setar.
AirAsia Malaysia Head of Commerce, Spencer Lee said, “We’re pleased to announce these two new routes from Johor Bahru.”
The new routes to Ipoh and Alor Setar will be effective from Monday, October 1. The additions are AirAsia’s 10th and 11th domestic routes, respectively.
Departing from Senai International Airport, the frequency is fixed at four times per week to both destinations.
“This expansion not only boosts connectivity between southern and northern peninsular Malaysia but is also an opportunity to improve the state economies of Perak, Johor, and Kedah through increased tourism,” said Spencer.
“We’re particularly thrilled to start flying to Ipoh and look forward to painting the city red come October,” he remarked.
The flights to Ipoh would be AirAsia’s first service in Ipoh after a long interval.
The Ipoh-Johor Bahru route is a pre-existent route that was launched in early 2006 before being suspended later that year.
Incidentally, Ipoh’s Sultan Azlan Shah Airport was revamped sometime between April 2011 and November 2012.
State Tourism, Arts and Culture Committee chairman, Tan Kar Hing said, “I’ll meet with Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad to look into the facilities at the airport, including its current setting, the information centre and basic infrastructure,” he said.
“This is to ensure that the airport facilities can accommodate the new flights,” Tan told reporters.
Keeping in mind the favourable impact airlines have on Perak tourism, Tan said he hoped to get more airline companies to fly to Ipoh in the future.
Ipoh Echo’s informal online survey on flight routes found that readers were in favour of flights to KLIA, Kota Kinabalu, Langkawi, and Penang.
Paaveetra N.
