By Muammar Kamarudin
NNN-BERNAMA
Dubai : Malaysia Airlines (MAS) is mounting an additional six flights which will transit in Dubai to cater to increased demand from Middle East tourists wanting to holiday in Malaysia during July and August.
MAS Regional Vice-President for the Middle East and Africa Halimy Mahmood said the demand for flights to Kuala Lumpur was expected to increase as July-August was the peak summer holiday period.
“Most West Asians holiday during these two months,” he told reporters recently when asked about the role played by the airline to boost tourist arrivals from the region into Malaysia.
He was speaking on the sidelines of the ongoing Arabian Travel Mart to which Malaysian Tourism Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor is leading a 150-member strong delegation from 91 organizations to boost tourist arrivals to Malaysia from the region.
The additional flights will consist of three weekly flights on the Kuala Lumpur-Dubai-Kuwait sector and three weekly flights on the Kuala Lumpur-Dubai-Bahrain, all using Boeing 777s with a total of 1,680 seats.
At the moment, Malaysia Airlines mounts three weekly flights on the Kuala Lumpur-Dubai-Beirut route using Airbus A330-200 aircraft with 681 seats and two weekly flights on the Kuala Lumpur-Karachi-Dubai route using an Airbus A330-300 with 584 seats which works out to a total of 1,256 seats.
With the six additional flights, Halimy said there would be 2,945 seats available each week for West Asian tourists who want to spend their holidays in Malaysia.
From past experience, he said demand for flights to Kuala Lumpur during the two months was high and the occupancy rate for MAS flights was almost full at 90 per cent per flight.
At the moment, he said MAS commanded a 40 per cent market share for Kuala Lumpur bound flights from Dubai.