Malaysia Airlines Launches Two New Routes From India

Earlier this year, Malaysia Airlines announced three new routes from India – Amritsar, Thiruvananthapuram, and Ahmedabad. The airline has already launched two of those services, with the third coming in a few more weeks. Even as Malaysia Airlines consolidates its overall India network, it also has high hopes for these three routes alone.

Thiruvananthapuram to Kuala Lumpur service

Malaysia Airlines recently launched its latest service from Thiruvananthapuram in the South Indian state of Kerala to Kuala Lumpur. The inaugural flight was given a water canon salute when it landed at Thiruvananthapuram International Airport (TRV) on November 9 at 23:15 local time as flight MH116. The service to and from Thiruvananthapuram will have the following schedule:

Amritsar’s service has many transit passengers

On November 8, Malaysia Airlines also started its flight between Amritsar and Kuala Lumpur. It seems to be a big hit with the Punjabi community looking to travel to other popular destinations such as Australia and New Zealand.

According to an aviation analyst at FlyAmritsar Initiative, a civil advocacy group dedicated to the development of Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport, Amritsar, the inaugural flight was more than 90% full.

Malaysia Airlines is the third carrier to connect Amritsar with Kuala Lumpur. It faces competition from Batik Air and AirAsia X. Manmohan Singh, a patron of Amritsar Vikas Manch, an NGO, commented,

“It is now more important for our diaspora and those residing in Punjab to support the airport’s growth by making it their primary choice for travel, rather than Delhi. We hope Malaysia Airlines will increase its frequency of flights to Amritsar in the upcoming months, so that the Punjabi diaspora across Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand travel conveniently to/from Punjab via Kuala Lumpur.”

600,000 passengers by 2026

These two new flights have been added to an already-established network of Malaysia Airlines in India that includes New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Kochi. Soon, Ahmedabad will also join the list when flights to the city begin on December 1. By the end of this year, the carrier will have 65 weekly flights to India from nine cities.

Photo: Lens Hitam | Shutterstock

The airline is at around 90% of its pre-pandemic capacity in India and is targeting around two million passengers from the country in 2023-24. It has high hopes for the three new routes as well, with chief commercial officer Dersenish Aresandiran telling Moneycontrol,

“Seeing that India remains a key international market for us, I am optimistic about its growth potential as we anticipate substantial increase in demand, with the introduction of these new routes. For these three routes alone, we expect to service more than 600,000 passengers, combined, through to 2026.”

Indeed, with a growing number of Indians starting to travel abroad, particularly to Australia and New Zealand, Malaysia Airlines hopes to get a large chunk of that traffic with an increased network.

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With inputs from Moneycontrol