From 22 June 2012, the long-haul low-cost carrier will commence four weekly flights from its base at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) to Beijing Capital International Airport. This will be raised to daily services from 6 August.

The launch of Beijing flights however, will see the airline cease operating its existing KL-Tianjin service. Flights to Tianjin will end on 21 June, but AirAsia X said that it will allow passengers booked on Tianjin flights after this date to transfer their bookings to Beijing.

“We are ecstatic that we are finally here and our network would not be complete without Beijing,” said Kathleen Tan, AirAsia’s Group Head of Commercial. “Our guests from Beijing have been waiting for years and we are finally able to meet the robust demand for this exciting destination. Our first flight into China took off eight years ago, and since then we have carried more than 12 million guests from seven destinations in China namely Chengdu, Hangzhou, Guilin, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Guangzhou and Chongqing. We are confident travel demand to Beijing will be strong and hope many will take the opportunity to visit Malaysia and use AirAsia as a gateway to the many exotic, far-flung destinations across the region.”

Passengers flying from Beijing will also be able to book single ticket “fly-thru” flights to destinations in Australia, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore, via KLIA.

Azran Osman-Rani, CEO of AirAsia X said the flights support the Malaysian government’s plan “that seeks to enhance connectivity between Malaysia and Beijing”.

The Beijing route will be operated using an Airbus A330-300 aircraft with 12 flatbed seats in business class and 365 economy class seats.

Source from <Travel Daily Asia>