AirAsia, the world's best low-cost airline, today flew in two international inaugural flights into Sarawak; from Shenzhen to Kuching and Singapore to Bintulu.

The inaugural Shenzhen-Kuching flight which landed at Kuching International Airport at 7.50 am this morning was greeted with a water cannon upon parking at the bay.

A Sarawak traditional welcoming ceremony for passengers was led by the Assistant Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, YB Datuk Lee Kim Shin; Chairman of the Sarawak Tourism Board, Datuk Abdul Wahab Aziz; Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Board, Mdm. Mary Wan Mering and the Director of Government Relations, AirAsia Berhad, Mr. Zamani Bin Mohd Rafique.

Meanwhile, the maiden Singapore-Bintulu flight which landed at 11.00 am at Bintulu Airport was received by YB Dato' Seri Tiong King Sing, Bintulu Member of Parliament and Head of Commercial of AirAsia Berhad, Mr. Spencer Lee; alongside YB Datuk Lee Kim Shin, Datuk Abdul Wahab Aziz, Mdm. Mary Wan Mering, and Mr. Zamani Bin Mohd Rafique, who flew in from Kuching to Bintulu.

The two new direct international flights are part of AirAsia's pipeline to boost the international connectivity into East Malaysia, in line with the State Government's effort to improve the tourism industry and flight connectivity into the state.

Spencer Lee, Head of Commercial, AirAsia Berhad said "We are honoured and humbled to welcome two new international flights into Sarawak today. AirAsia has always been committed towards expanding the markets in Sarawak and these direct flights reiterate our commitment to grow the connectivity in and out of the state. To-date, we have flown about 4.8 million guests in and out of Sarawak which is 12.1 percent more from 2016 with China and Singapore in the top five nationality.

"We hope the introduction of these new routes will foster the number of visitors into Sarawak next year, and this is only made possible by the continuous support rendered by Sarawak's state government and tourism authorities. We are also proud to be recognised as the leading airline operator by the Sarawak State Government at the Sarawak Hornbill Tourism Award 2015/2016 this year. Hence, we would like to thank the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture Sarawak as well as Sarawak Tourism Board for their endless support and we will continue to uphold the state government's policy to improve the connectivity to drive the state's tourism growth and we look forward to being the leading airline that connects the ‘Land of the Hornbills' further."

Meanwhile, Datuk Abdul Wahab had expressed gratitude and thanks to AirAsia for the air connections from international hubs.

"It augurs well for the development of the tourism industry in Sarawak and to the international world and we hope and look forward to more international connectivity in the years to come", he said.

AirAsia now flies to 12 destinations from Kuching with a total of 229 weekly flights one way. In addition to Shenzhen, the airline also flies from Kuching to Singapore, Pontianak, Miri, Sibu, Bintulu, Kota Kinabalu, Johor Bahru, Kota Bharu, Penang, Kuala Lumpur and Langkawi. AirAsia also flies to three destinations from Bintulu namely Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Kuching with a total of 39 weekly flights one way.

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Flight Schedule for Kuching, Malaysia (KCH) - Shenzhen, China (SZX):

Flight Schedule for Bintulu, Malaysia (BTU) - Singapore (SIN):