Air China To Resume Beijing-KL Route On Oct 25

By Samantha Tan Chiew Ting BEIJING, Sept 17 (Bernama) -- China's national flag carrier, Air China is set to resume its Beijing-Kuala Lumpur route with four-weekly flights on Oct 25 after it was suspended three years ago. Malaysian Tourism Promotion Board Chairman Wee Choo Keong said the flight resumption would further boost Malaysia-China ties and connectivity. The airline may increase the flight frequency to seven-weekly flights or even two-daily flights if the air travel demand continues to rise," he told Bernama after attending a meeting between Tourism Malaysia and Air China and local travel agent China Comfort Travel, here Thursday. Wee said Tourism Malaysia would continue to work with the Home Ministry to ensure that Chinese tourists traveling to Malaysia would enjoy hassle-free, visa-free holidays. Besides the visa-free facility, he hopes the ministry would consider waiving the visa service charge of RMB120 (RMB100=RM67) for group tourists from China. He said Chinese tourists preferred Malaysia as a holiday destination due to its diverse tourism products such as food, beaches and islands, mountains, shopping malls, apart from not having to deal with cumbersome language barrier. Meanwhile, Air China Manager of International Routes Wu Xiaoming said the airline offered 246 economy, 16 premium economy and 28 business seats on its flights to Kuala Lumpur. "We expect the inaugural Beijing-Kuala Lumpur flight to have a load factor of over 60 per cent as Chinese travellers love to visit the islands of Redang, Langkawi and Penang," she added. -- BERNAMA