AirAsia X’s will operate daily services from Kuala Lumpur to the Gold Coast from next February, Premier Anna Bligh announced today.
Ms Bligh said as of February 6, AirAsia X would operate 2681 weekly seats from Kuala Lumpur to the Gold Coast, an increase of 383 seats per week, taking the frequency of flights from six days a week to daily.
“AirAsia X is truly one of Queensland’s great airline success stories, offering great service and highly competitive airfares into one of Australia’s premier tourism destinations – the Gold Coast,” Ms Bligh said.
“The company was convinced to choose the Gold Coast over Melbourne by our Government three years ago and since launching two years ago the partnership has gone from strength-to-strength.
“As well as the incentives offered by the State Government and Gold Coast Airport to lure the company here, we have continued to jointly market the Gold Coast through Malaysia.
“When the airline launched in 2007 it had four weekly services into the Gold Coast on an Airbus A330, and since then the Kuala Lumpur – Gold Coast route has gone gangbusters.
“In December last year, the airline changed to a larger aircraft and increased services to daily over the Christmas New Year period, and then earlier this month added an additional two weekly flights.
“Today’s news that they will add yet another flight is fantastic for the local tourism industry.”
Tourism Minister Peter Lawlor said since AirAsia X launched the Kuala Lumpur – Gold Coast route in November 2007, passenger movements had grown significantly, with 56,000 passengers travelling to the Gold Coast in the year ended June 2009, up 73 percent on the same time in the previous year.
He said the AirAsia X announcement added to a growing list of good airline news for the Gold Coast.
“The latest international passenger movements data released by the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics revealing arrivals into the Gold Coast were up 83 percent in the year ending June 2009,” he said.
“Despite the ongoing impact of the global financial crisis, inbound passenger movements to the Gold Coast have performed strongly over the past 12 months.
“Jetstar’s decision to launch services from Osaka and Tokyo to the Gold Coast in October and December 2008 has resulted in an estimated 73,000 passengers travelling from Japan to the Gold Coast in the year ended June 2009.
“Additionally, Jetstar’s decision to start daily services from Auckland to the Gold Coast in April this year has resulted in an estimated 135,000 passengers flying to the Gold Coast on the Auckland route in the year ended June 2009.
“Over the last three financial years, passenger movements on the Auckland-Gold Coast route have grown significantly with arrivals up 52 percent – all great news for the Gold Coast.”
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