Malindo Air’s upcoming services connecting Kuala Lumpur to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and Guangzhou, China will alleviate capacity strains during peak periods, said inbound agents.
In the first 10 months of 2016, arrivals from China registered a 27 per cent increase to 1.75 million while those from Saudi Arabia rose 23.5 per cent to 111,248.
The twice-weekly Jeddah route will be launched on February 21 and will go daily from March 26. Daily services to Guangzhou will begin on March 15.
Ally Bhoonee, executive director at World Avenues, said: “The Jeddah route would assist the inbound market especially during the peak season from June to August.
“The largest number of arrivals from the Middle East to Malaysia is from Saudi Arabia. During the summer holidays, there (tends to be) insufficient seats. The greater availability of seats could create more interest in Malaysia,” he added.
Similarly for the new Guangzhou flights, Mint Leong, managing director at Sunflower Holidays, said: “There is usually a shortage of seats during the Chinese New Year period and school holidays in July and August. The direct flights will help the national agenda, which places emphasis on getting more arrivals from China.”
Leong however wished the schedule is better. Flights depart Guangzhou at 03.10 and arrive Kuala Lumpur at 07.30. For business events, this is “not good”.
“Incentive (travel) recipients will regard their organisation as being thoughtless if they were put on this flight,” she said.
