nuove compagnie atterrano a KUL

[landingFCO]

grandi movimenti presso lo scalo malese


Two more airlines to fly into KLIA by November

BY B.K. SIDHU

PETALING JAYA: Two international airlines – Kuwait Airlines and Cebu Pacific – are expected to fly into KL International Airport (KLIA) by November, making them the first two new passenger carriers to fly into the airport this year.

For next year, talks are under way for at least four new airlines – Finnair, Ethihad Airlines, Shanghai Airlines and Hainan Airlines – to fly into KLIA.

“We are continuously working towards getting more airlines to fly into KLIA and getting the existing carriers to increase their frequencies so as to ensure KLIA offers greater connectivity and higher passenger traffic volumes,” a Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said several existing airlines had or would be increasing their frequencies this year and some others were expected to do so next year. This year’s list includes Saudi Arabian Airlines, Qatar Airways, Cathay Pacific (which began plying the Hong Kong-Penang route in April) and Emirates.

An aerial view of KLIA. For next year, talks are under way for at least four new airlines to fly into the airport.
For now, 45 airlines – including three cargo carriers and one mail transporter – fly out of KLIA and the figure should reach 47 with Kuwait Airlines and Cebu Pacific.

Gading Sari Aviation Services Sdn Bhd began flying from KLIA this year, transporting mail between Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah and Sarawak for Pos Malaysia Bhd. The three cargo carriers are Cargolux, Federal Express and United Parcel Service.

It has taken KLIA a long time to get Kuwait Airlines to fly into KLIA and Finnair is expected to fly in from Helsinki beginning May 2007.

Hainan Airlines operates charter flights from Haikou to KLIA, but intends to have scheduled flights from Xian to KLIA, capitalising on the route that Malaysia Airlines (MAS) developed but has pulled out of.

Even though MAHB would like to see more carriers flying into KLIA, rising jet fuel prices remains a major concern for global carriers and some are finding it hard to maintain their extensive network. Some are beginning to review and scale back routes even though other aggressive players are still expanding.

In the case of MAS, it has pulled out of several destinations in an effort to reduce cost.

Although this year may see only two new carriers flying into KLIA, last year seven made their way here – India’s Jet Airways, the return of Pakistan International Airlines, Thai AirAsia, PT Awair, Thai Sky Airlines, Air Nepal International and Shenzhen Airlines.

As part of MAHB’s efforts to draw more airlines here, it is participating in the forthcoming Routes 2006 airport/airlines forum, scheduled from Sept 16 to 19 in Dubai.

Routes 2006 is where airport operators woo airlines to their airports and MAHB officials are expected to meet more than 30 global airlines at this year’s forum in the hope that some will consider flying into KLIA.

At this year’s event, MAHB will also be promoting the other four international airports – Penang, Kota Kinabalu, Kuching and Langkawi – as additional destinations in the country.

Last year, KLIA handled 23 million passengers and MAHB managing director Datuk Bashir Ahmad recently said he expected passenger traffic to increase by 5% this year. In the first half of 2006, KLIA saw a 4.6% increase in passenger traffic to 13.7 million from a year ago.

Next year is Visit Malaysia Year and given the aggressive promotional activities that Tourism Malaysia has undertaken thus far, industry experts are predicting higher passenger traffic volumes although they are not able to give any estimates.

MAHB manages 39 airports in the country – five international, 16 domestic and 18 short take-off and landing sites.

- thestaronline -

[AmikoFrizz]

Finnair is expected to fly in from Helsinki beginning May 2007...
Finnair sta facendo un gran lavoro sul mercato Asia, non solo per la favorevole collocazione geografica e le rotte polari, a me sembrano muoversi proprio bene.

ciao
af

[skyrobbie]

Molto bene per l'aeroporto che tra l'altro ha delle tariffe molto competitive.

[AmikoFrizz]

Intendi le tariffe aeroportuali per le compagnie che operano a KLIA?

ciao
af

[skyrobbie]

@AmikoFrizz

si, intendo quelle.
Anni fa anche BA e LH volavano a Kuala Lumpur, per non dimenticare per un breve periodo NW. Poi per ragioni diverse hanno lasciato lo scalo.

Ciao!

[AmikoFrizz]

Grazie SkyRobbie.
Eh, si vede che BA e LH adesso hanno trovato qualche mercato piu' redditivo, sempre in area asiatica, dove fare servizio. Penso alla Cina...

ciao
af