Malaysia-based low-cost carrier AirAsia has opened advanced booking for its first-ever BBI-KUL (Bhubaneswar to Kuala Lumpur) flights.
According to its promotional offer, ambitious flyers can book their ticket in advance for flights that are scheduled to take off from Bhubaneswar between 26th April, 2017 to 27 October 2017 travel period. You can follow this link to get more information about their promotional offer.
Get excited! We're now flying direct from #Bhubaneswar to #KualaLumpur!
The fare is fine, only Rs.999!
Book NOW on https://t.co/2XVP2iSTNR pic.twitter.com/IqN1dIlgGh
— AirAsia India (@airasiain) February 22, 2017
Earlier this month, AirAsia had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Odisha government for running direct international flights from Bhubaneswar to Kuala Lumpur.
The agreement was signed between Nitin Bhanudas Jawale, Director of tourism department in the state and AirAsia Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Aireen Omar.
“AirAsia’s engagement is very important for Odisha. This pact marks the culmination of our efforts and very soon, we will be starting international flights. We have asked for permission to ply two to three flights per week. The state government is offering subsidy in the form of Viability Gap Funding (VGF)”, said Jawale.
AirAsia CEO said an announcement would be made shortly regarding the commencement of international flights from Bhubaneswar — a development industry experts feel could attract other players to launch operations from Odisha’s capital.
AirAsia has been selected through competitive bidding. The state government had invited an Expression of Interest (EoI) from the scheduled air carriers for running flights to destinations in South East Asia like Singapore, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur. To woo the air carriers, the state government had agreed to provide reasonable VGF in the form of subsidy grant.
The state government has offered to provide the subsidy grant initially for six months with the possibility of extending it for a year from the date of starting commercial flight operations. The continuation of subsidy grant would depend on the trend in passenger traffic.
If an operator is already running flights from an Indian city to Singapore, Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur and is keen to use Bhubaneswar as a hopping destination, the state government would offer subsidy grant. However, the grant would be released on the condition that the operator reserves 30 per cent of seats for passengers flying from and to Bhubaneswar.
The subsidy would be provided on a monthly basis and would be given if there are regular flights on scheduled days irrespective of the passenger flow. If the operator chooses to increase or decrease the frequency as per demand, the state government would vary the subsidy grant accordingly.
“Sometime in April, the services will start but it may be in the first or the last week. The exact date will be known in a week’s time. Air Asia will also be starting another flight to Bangkok in the next three to four months. With Air Asia launching its operations, we are hopeful that other players will be attracted to start their operations from Bhubaneswar. Invest Bhubaneswar has been pursuing Air Asia for the past five years to start operations from the city”, said Debasish Patnaik, convenor of the Invest Bhubaneswar event.
For more information on Bhubaneswar-Kuala Lumpur flight operation, you may follow the discussions here.
Courtesy: Business Standard
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