Malaysia welcomed five new international airlines in January and February 2024, including four new carriers launching or resuming service to Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).
Air Macau (NX) added a four-weekly service from Macau (MFM); Loong Air (GJ) is offering thrice-weekly flights from Hangzhou (HGH); Turkmenistan Airlines (T5) is providing twice-weekly service from Ashgabat (ASB); and Iraqi Airways (IA) resumed its weekly service to Baghdad (BGW).
Meanwhile, at other airports in the country, flydubai (FZ) is now serving Penang International Airport (PEN) and Langkawi International Airport (LGK) daily from Dubai (DXB), and Firefly also introduced thrice-weekly charter flights from Tawau to Nanjing.
Going forward, Malaysia Airports recently said it had identified “17 potential airlines from seven distinct regions” to launch service to Malaysia.
Last week, SkyTeam member China Eastern Airlines launched a new daily service between KLIA and Kunming, the capital city of Yunnan province in southern China.
The flights depart Kunming for Kuala Lumpur daily at 1725 and arrive in Malaysia at 2140. They depart back from KLIA at 2240 and arrive in Kunming at 0155.
China Eastern is the only carrier offering business class service between Kunming and Kuala Lumpur, joining low-cost carriers AirAsia and Batik Air Malaysia, the former Malindo Air, on the route.
China Eastern has rostered its Airbus A320 aircraft on the three-hour flights between Kunming and Kuala Lumpur, including eight recliner seats in business class.
The Chinese carrier recently also launched a four-weekly service between KLIA and Daxing International Airport in Beijing.
