|
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) -- Flag carrier Malaysia Airlines plans to add
18 new destinations in India within the next five years, a newspaper
reported Tuesday.
 Malaysia
Airlines, or MAS, flies to major state capitals and will now focus on
secondary airports such as Amritsar, Trichi and Trivandrum, the New Straits
Times said, quoting the airline's senior general manager for marketing,
Rashid Khan.
Khan said smaller airports in India are experiencing tremendous traffic
growth due to the government's liberalized aviation polices and the
country's rapidly expanding economy.
"I think it would be a wise business move for MAS to make its presence
more prominent at these new emerging destinations," he was quoted as saying.
MAS flies 26 weekly flights to India, servicing routes to New Delhi,
Bombay, Madras, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Calcutta. The last two
cities were added recently.
Rashid also said MAS plans to introduce several more flights to
China by
2010 including to Chongqing, Guilin and Nanning. He didn't give details. The
airline currently operates 63 weekly flights to Beijing, Shanghai,
Hong
Kong, Guangzhou, Xiamen, Chendu and Kunming.
MAS' Asian routes currently make up about 50 percent of its revenue,
which in the latest financial year ended March 31, 2004 was 9.9 billion
ringgit ($2.60 billion). Its net profit for the financial year was 461
million ringgit ($121 million). |
