KUALA LUMPUR, 19 February 2024: Tourism Malaysia and Malaysia Airports Holdings welcomed the inaugural flight of Turkmenistan Airlines from Ashgabat to Kuala Lumpur 15 February.
Introducing a direct flight from Central Asia to Kuala Lumpur marks an important milestone following last year’s introduction of flights from Ashgabat to Bangkok. Also, in January 2024, Turkmenistan Airlines confirmed Milan, Ho Chi Minh City, Jeddah and Kuala Lumpur as its new destinations scheduled during Q1, 2024.
The first Turkmenistan Airlines Boeing 777-300ER aircraft with 368 seats in a three-class configuration entered service in December 2023, serving the Ashgabat-Bangkok route.
Malaysia’s Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, YB Dato Sri Tiong King Sing and Ambassador of Turkmenistan in Malaysia, Muhammetnyyaz Mashalov, along with representatives from Turkmenistan Airlines, welcomed the 228 passengers who arrived on the KUL inaugural flight.
The airline deploys a mix of Boeing 777-200LR and 777-300ER aircraft to serve the twice-weekly scheduled services configured with 289 and 368 seats, respectively.
Since 15 February, twice weekly flights will depart from Ashgabat every Wednesday and Thursday, boosting tourist arrivals from Central Asia and Russia and facilitating seamless travel between regions. The flight time from Ashgabat to Kuala Lumpur is eight hours and 10 minutes.
Tourism Malaysia is pursuing strategic collaborations with international airlines, aiming to stimulate increased travel demand from Central Asia that aligns with Malaysia’s target of reaching 35.6 million tourists during Visit Malaysia Year 2026. From January to November 2023, Malaysia experienced a notable surge in tourism from Central Asia, welcoming 21,910 tourists, reflecting a remarkable 196.7% increase compared to 2022.
Concurrently, arrivals from Russia also soared, with Malaysia hosting 100,645 Russian visitors during the same period. This represents a staggering 360% surge from 2022 and a 39.5% increase compared to pre-pandemic levels in 2019.
Meanwhile, on 16 February, the airline introduced a new flight from Ashgabat to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, flying a Boeing 777-200 LR. Also, on its website, the airline promotes through a homepage banner top-of-page services to Bangkok, Thailand; Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, flagging them as relatively new additions to its network.
When you click on the Kuala Lumpur tab on the airline’s home page, it provides details of representatives handling bookings. In the case of the route to Kuala Lumpur, it points to the following contacts.
Sky Aviation Services SDH BHD
2-2 Jalan 1/76D Desa Pandan, 55100 Kuala Lumpur. Tel: 603-9207 4888
Aviareps Malaysia
CP15, Suite 271, Level 27 Wisma Chuang, 34, Jalan Sultan Ismail 50250 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; tel: +602 2148 8033/ +6012 398 3978.
A check of popular booking websites such as Trip.com and Google Flights comes up with flights on Turkish Airlines and other airlines offering one-stop services between Ashgabat and Kuala Lumpur. They respond with, “No nonstop flights found.” when asking for nonstop flight options.
