More international routes to cater for significant pent up demand and a commitment to the highest safety measures

SEPANG, 22 March 2022 - AirAsia welcomes the announcement by the Malaysian government to fully open international borders on 1 April and is ready to paint the international skies red again.

Since AirAsia resumed its operations with travel bubbles and a focus on domestic services, the gradual resumption of international flying is already well underway in tandem with borders gradually reopening around the world. With the continued easing of travel restrictions, the airline group has increased its domestic flight capacity by 156% since October 2021 that kickstarted with the Langkawi travel bubble, and by 50% for international flights since the Malaysian government's announcement of borders reopening in April, on 8 March 2022, with a total of 75 aircraft in operations currently group-wide. This was also supported by the reopening of other countries like Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Cambodia, Singapore and Vietnam.

While the airline currently has a number of international services already operating, the announcement of the nation's reopening will provide a welcome boost to support additional capacity in many of its core international markets in line with significant  pent up demand.

Bo Lingam, Group CEO of AirAsia Aviation Group Limited (AAAGL) said: “We would like to applaud the governments around the region for their decision to reopen borders, removing travel restrictions with minimal testing requirements, thus making travel easy for everyone. We’re thrilled to be resuming more flights in all of our core markets in Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia and to be adding additional services to some of AirAsia’s most popular international destinations including Bali, Manila, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Phuket and more, starting in April. Domestic flying also continues to soar across the group. We have recently  launched four new domestic routes in Malaysia from Kuching to Langkawi, Penang to Sibu, Johor Bahru to Bintulu and Kota Kinabalu to Kuala Terengganu this year. 

“Regionally, we have seen similarly encouraging developments for domestic and international services in Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia. We will continue to review our network which evolves based on a number of factors including demand. New services will be announced in due course as the world continues to gradually reopen. While our domestic services across the group have grown by 156% in recent months due to significant consumer demand, and by 50% for international, we expect to return to 100% or more of pre-Covid domestic and international flying by the end of this year.”

Riad Asmat, CEO of AirAsia Malaysia said: “Finally the world is starting to reopen and thanks to the reopening of Malaysia’s border we can plan to relaunch many new routes from our main hub at klia2. For the reassurance of our guests, safety is always our utmost priority and we continuously strive to provide world-class service quality and a stellar guest experience with a commitment to adhering to stringent safety rules and procedures.

“While we are extensively prepared to ensure all of our guests can travel safely from an operational standpoint through the robust   safety and health measures that we have in place, we would also like to remind our guests to adhere to all SOPs set by the government during your travels and we can’t wait  to see you on back on board our flights soon.”

AirAsia remains committed to providing service under stringent health and safety measures. AirAsia has successfully migrated of 95% of its guest to contactless self-check-in via the airasia Super App and its website, an initiative that was made mandatory at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic last year and will continue to be an integral part of its effort to further strengthen its Covid-19 mitigation plan through contactless operations. 

At the same time, AirAsia is encouraging all guests to migrate and upgrade to the all-in-one airasia Super App for their seamless and contactless self-check-in. AirAsia’s counter check-in service will be strictly for exempted categories of guests only at all airports in Malaysia from 1 April 2022. Among the exempted groups are senior citizens aged 70 and above, people with disabilities registered with the Welfare Department, young passengers travelling alone, group bookings of 10 guests and more, charter flight passengers and more. 

Usage of the airasia Super App is free of charge and it can be downloaded from the Apple App Store, Google Play Store or Huawei AppGallery at no cost.

In conjunction with the reopening of international  borders, guests can finally once again look forward to reconnect with friends and families and to ignite their wanderlust to popular destinations including  Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, India, Thailand, Indonesia, the Maldives, Brunei, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Laos, Bangladesh and more from as low as just RM89 one-way, while domestic routes are on sale  from just RM39 one-way. Book your flights on the ‘Flights’ option in the airasia Super App from now until 27 March 2022, for  travel between 1 April 2022 until 25 March 2023.

Travelling with AirAsia is not only safe and affordable, but also more hygienic than ever. The airline has twice been recognised for its robust and comprehensive Covid-19 mitigation plans, with highest levels of safety and operational integrity with a 7/7 rating from the aviation experts at airlineratings.com in 2021 and 2022. 

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About AirAsia Aviation Group Limited (AAAGL)

AAAGL is the holding company under Capital A (formerly AAGB) for its group of airlines and airline investments portfolio companies. Underpinned by a relentless pursuit of operational excellence as the world’s leading low cost carrier, AAAGL maintains a continued focus on cost and is committed to delivering the best value across all portfolio businesses. Other portfolio companies in the AAAGL group include AirAsia Consulting, the food and beverage restaurant division, Santan as well as AirAsia SEA -  the shared services corporate division. GTR completes the airline group ecosystem, providing industry leading ground services capabilities for not only AirAsia, but also to third party airlines. The airlines within the group have used the downtime in flying over the past two years to put in place a robust platform to return to the skies leaner and stronger. The introduction of numerous contactless procedures will make flying not only safe and affordable but also more contactless and hygienic than ever before including contactless check in via the airasia Super App and revolutionary facial recognition technology (FACES).