KL International Airport Wins Double Awards At Routes Asia 2018

By Anthony Tan

VIRGIN Communications  

email: anthonykhtan@yahoo.co.uk

 

Overall Winner: KL International Airport

Malaysia Airports’ significant contribution to the growth of the Malaysian aviation industry was acknowledged when KL International Airport (KLIA) received the prestigious Routes Asia 2018 Marketing Awards for the Overall Winner and Over 20 Million Passengers categories, beating other hubs in the region.

The Marketing Awards was held conjunction with Route Development Forum Asia 2018 or Routes Asia in short, which was held in Brisbane, Australia on 19 March, is regarded as prestigious in the aviation industry because of its unbiased judging by the participating airlines planning community that gives its vote. 

Business In Session

Thanks to these airlines recognise the outstanding marketing services that have supported the launch of new air routes or the development of existing services, KLIA emerged the proud winner of two awards.

Despite the global challenging economic landscape in 2017, KLIA showed an impressive scorecard, securing nine new passenger airlines that flew to Malaysia’s capital city and launching 25 new routes.

Overall, passenger traffic grew by 11.2% to 58.5 million, with the hub recording an additional 30,535 commercial aircraft movements to contribute to a total of 386,054 movements last year.



Mohamed Sallauddin,

General Manager of Airline Marketing

Mohamed Sallauddin, Malaysia Airports general manager of airline marketing, considers this a “fantastic achievement and tremendous recognition of the success we have achieved so far”.

He adds, “Over the past two years we have reimagined how we work with airlines and this rewards the effort the team has made.

“We have come up with a series of coherent programmes for our carriers and the international ones we are pursuing. We will continue to work hard with the aim of hopefully winning an award at World Routes in Guangzhou.”

Before leaving for this event, Sallauddin had tipped MICE Malaysia Beyond that the last time KLIA won Routes Asia Marketing Awards was in 2009 under the Southeast Asia category. In that year, Singapore Changi Airport came in as “Highly Commended”. 

Destination Category: Highly commended - Japan National Tourism Organisation 

We were certainly happy for Sallauddin when he received the two awards this year. On hearing the news, Malaysia Airports managing director Datuk Badlisham Ghazali was overjoyed with KLIA’s two wins at this highly regarded regional heat of Routes Asia 2018 Marketing Awards.  

Malaysia Airports managing director
Datuk Badlisham Ghazali

We met him recently at the ground-breaking ceremony of Senior Aerospace Upeca facility at Subang Aerotech Park prior to the awards, Badlisham told MICE Malaysia Beyond that Malaysia Airports had put in a lot of hard work into positioning KLIA as a regional hub to be reckoned with.

When we met him recently at the ground-breaking ceremony of Senior Aerospace Upeca facility at Subang Aerotech Park prior to the awards, Badlisham told MICE Malaysia Beyond that Malaysia Airports had put in a lot of hard work into positioning KLIA as a regional hub to be reckoned with.

As can be seen, the airport operator has been innovative in coming out with its airline marketing strategies to promote the desired destinations. Its collaboration with Tourism Malaysia last year in the Joint International Tourism Development Programme saw the two matching the investments made by the airlines, trade and business partners in marketing campaigns that drive inbound tourism.

Malaysia Airports also undertook several missions to Europe, ASEAN, South Asia, India and China to meet up with over 30 airlines at their headquarters to market KLIA as a fast-growing hub besides participating in major travel trade shows to discuss with travel agents and airlines to bring in more charter flights into Malaysia.

As aptly put by Steven Small, brand director of Routes, “The results that KLIA achieved in 2017 speak for themselves. The relationships that they have fostered with their airline and tourism partners, showcase how a collaborative approach delivers remarkable growth.”

As the overall winner, KLIA will be automatically shortlisted for the World Routes Marketing Awards in Guangzhou on 17 September.

Here’s the full list of Routes Asia 2018 Marketing Awards:

Overall Winner: Kuala Lumpur International Airport

Over 20 million passengers

_{Winner: Kuala Lumpur International Airport}

Highly commended: Singapore Changi Airport 

4 – 20 million passengers

Winner: Adelaide Airport
Highly commended: Auckland Airport

Under 4 million passengers

Winner: Vladivostok International Airport

Highly commended: Townsville Airport

Destination

Winner: Cook Islands Tourism Corporation

Highly commended: Japan National Tourism Organization 

The news is out! Routes Asia 2019 will be held in Cebu, Philippines from 10-12 March.


Over To You Cebu - ROUTES ASIA 2019

*   Note: Pictures taken from Route Asia 2018 Supplies

Malindo Air launches daily flight to Phnom Penh and codeshare flight to Chennai

By Anthony Tan
VIRGIN Communications
email: anthonykhtan@yahoo.co.uk 

 
Malindo Air will start its inaugural flight to Phnom Penh, Cambodia from 1 August.

It announced on 29 June that all bookings are opened for both Business Class and Economy Class seats for its new daily services from Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) with immediate effect.

The airline’s flight OD580 will depart daily from KLIA at 8 am and arrive at Phnom Penh International Airport (PNH) at 8:55 am. The return flight OD581 will depart PNH on the same day at 9:45am and expect to arrive at KLIA at 12:35 pm.

Stupa Oudong

To celebrate this new route, Malindo Air is offering all-in return introductory fares to Phnom Penh for Business Class starting from RM749 and Economy Class from RM139. The promotional fares include perks such as baggage allowance, in-flight entertainment and meals. 

The Royal Palace in Phnom Penh

The airline also announced a codeshare flight with sister airline Batik Air Indonesia between Kuala Lumpur and Chennai, India from 24 July. This route will see Batik Air Indonesia flying from Jakarta with stopover at KLIA enroute to Chennai and vice versa.

The daily flight to Chennai will start from 24 July with OD9114 departing from KLIA at 6:25 am and arriving at Chennai International Airport (MAA) at 7:55 am. The return flight OD9115 will depart on the same day from MAA at 8:55 am and expect to arrive at KLIA at 3:25 pm.

There are many colourful festivals in Chennai

Come 30 August, a second flight will be added, thus making it two daily flights from Kuala Lumpur to Chennai with a good timing for business or leisure travellers. 

The additional flight OD9112 will depart daily from KLIA at 8:55 pm and expect to arrive at MAA at 10:20 pm. The return flight OD9113 will depart on the same day from MAA at 11:10 pm and expect to arrive at KLIA the next day at 5:40 am.

Chandran Rama Muthy

The introductory fares to Chennai for Economy Class will start from RM438 and Business Class from RM999.

 

Both fares include better baggage allowance, in-flight entertainment and meals. 

 

Malindo Air CEO Chandran Rama Muthy said, “We are thrilled to announce these two new routes to our network. Both Phnom Penh and Chennai are rich in culture and both destinations have active travellers for trade and leisure. These routes support our continuous efforts in making KLIA a transit hub by connecting passengers to visit Malaysia.

 

“We hope to help boost the tourism in Malaysia and the cities that are connected through our network. Passengers from India, for example, can fly to Kuala Lumpur and further their journey to Indonesia, Australia or even Hong Kong or Taiwan. Our network grows rapidly, especially with our progressive codeshare strategies, which aim to provide better connectivity in the region.”  

 Quick Look

Malindo Air’s schedule between Kuala Lumpur and Phnom Penh
Sector	Flight No:	ETD	ETA	Frequency
KUL/PNH	OD 580	8:00	8:55	Daily
PNH/KUL	OD 581	9:45	12:35

 
 Malindo Air’s codeshare schedule between Kuala Lumpur and Chennai (operated by Batik Air)

Sector	Flight No.	ETD	ETA	Frequency
KUL/MAA	OD9114	6:25	7:55	Daily
MAA/KUL	OD 9115	8:55	15:25
Second frequency with effect from 30 August 2017
KUL/MAA	OD9112	20:55	22:10	Daily
MAA/KUL	OD 9113	23:10	5:40

Note: All timings stated are local time in 24-hour format.

ETD: Estimated departure; ETA: Estimated arrival