SUBANG: Budget airline AirAsia Malaysia (AirAsia) will offer a new service similar to the ones made by full service carriers for its flights out of Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport (SAAS), also known as Subang Airport.
AirAsia parent Capital A Bhd group chief executive officer (CEO) Tan Sri Tony Fernandes said the new service, which will be announced soon, would either have meals or extra luggage that come together in a single airfare.
"AirAsia+ will be a different product from Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) Terminal 2. We're probably going to have the same service as a full service airline in Subang because this is a business city airport, which people are probably prepared to pay a little bit more because time and value is there," Fernandes said at the launch of AirAsia's expansion to Subang Airport here today.
Business Times reported last week, quoting AirAsia Aviation Group (AAG) group CEO Bo Lingam, that AirAsia will be flying from Subang to Kuching and Kota Kinabalu from August 30.
The airline is offering RM88 one-way promotional fare from Subang to Kuching and RM99 one-way to Kota Kinabalu.
The promotional fare starts today until July 28 for the travel period between August 30 2024 and Oct 8 2025.
AirAsia will be flying 14 weekly flights to Kuching and Kota Kinabalu from Subang Airport using its Airbus A320 aircraft.
The resumption of narrowbody aircraft operations out of SAAS is part of the Subang Airport Regeneration Plan (SARP) which was announced by Transport Minister Anthony Loke in February 2023.
The airport aspires to become a premium city airport catering to mostly business travellers.
Other airlines that will be operating out of Subang Airport include FlyFirefly Sdn Bhd, Batik Air Malaysia Sdn Bhd as well as two foreign carriers namely Indonesia's PT TransNusa Aviation Mandiri (TransNusa) and Singapore's Scoot Pte Ltd.
"Subang Airport holds a special place in my heart and it's exciting to witness its resurgence as one of the key players in Malaysia's aviation landscape.
"The government's decision to revitalise the airport into a regional aviation hub aligns perfectly with our mission to continue revolutionising the aviation industry," Fernandes said.
He added that AirAsia's homecoming to Subang Airport was nostalgic and he would do his retirement farewell at the airport where the airline started its operations with two aircraft in December 2001.
AirAsia also announced its new managing director Datuk Captain Fareh Mazputra who started his role this month.