KUALA LUMPUR, 15 September 2021: Malaysians are welcoming the Langkawi travel bubble announcement made last week, indicating it could be a catalyst to kickstart domestic tourism recovery, says the AirAsia Group.
AirAsia is promoting its AirAsia Super App that offers the entire travel experience for vaccinated visitors, including booking transfers to the airport, trips on Langkawi island, accommodation and even duty-free shopping.
AirAsia Malaysia (AK) will resume its flights to Langkawi with a total of 90 flights each way from cities in mainland Malaysia. They include 63 weekly flights from Kuala Lumpur, twice daily from Penang, daily from Johor Bahru, three weekly from Ipoh and three weekly from Kota Bharu. More routes will be added, and frequencies will increase as the travel demand grows in tandem with the reopening of more leisure destinations in the near future.
Passengers can tap travel experiences and content on the AirAsia Super App in collaborating with the Langkawi Development Authority to offer a new digitised and contactless duty-free shopping with same-day delivery to Langkawi hotels by the end of this month.
The AirAsia Super App, which now offers e-hailing with the recent launch of AirAsia ride, will also be operating in Langkawi beginning 16 September 2021.
AirAsia Malaysia CEO Riad Asmat and Amanda Woo, CEO airasia Super App announced these initiatives at an online press conference on Tuesday, which was also attended by Lembaga Pembangunan Langkawi (LADA) CEO En Nasaruddin Abdul Muttalib.
Riad Asmat said: “Since the government’s announcement of the Langkawi travel bubble’s SOP last week, we have seen very strong uptake for seats to Langkawi, especially with the MYR12 low fares and MYR99 SNAP deals by AirAsia… This clearly indicates a strong pent up demand.”
“Our self-check-in system on the AirAsia Super App is our latest innovation that integrates data from certified healthcare providers to seamlessly verify a guest’s travel eligibility based on their test certificate and/or vaccination certificate. Our comprehensive travel procedures ensure the safety and wellbeing of our guests and employees as a result of our ongoing and continuous close cooperation and engagements with health and aviation authorities at the local, regional and international levels. This is certainly a step forward in our digital-led transformation journey, and we cannot wait to welcome everyone safely on board again.”
Ticket sales are estimated to reach 200,000 in a matter of just a few days with 30,000 bookings already confirmed before the 16 September launch.
The AirAsia super app work hand-in-hand with LADA and all other industry players in Langkawi that should boost economic recovery and help to position the island as one of the top beach destinations in ASEAN.
Lembaga Pembangunan Langkawi (LADA) CEO Nasaruddin Abdul Muttalib said: “We believe AirAsia’s initiative to mount new routes will help boost Langkawi’s potential as a premier island destination among domestic tourists. We hope their arrivals will help us to achieve our economic goals and ensure Langkawi remains as the top-of-mind holiday retreat for worldwide tourists.”
However, he reminded domestic tourists that they should strictly adhere to the SOPs in place to “enjoy an amazing, safe, and healthy tourism experience on Langkawi.”
