AirAsia, the world's best low cost airline for nine times in a row received a "Special Recognition award for Airline Operator" at the Sarawak Hornbill Tourism Award 2015/2016, held in Kuching, Sarawak last night.

The award was presented by the Chief Minister of Sarawak, Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg to Aireen Omar, Chief Executive Officer of AirAsia Berhad.

Aireen Omar said, "All of us at AirAsia are deeply honoured and humbled to be recognised as the leading airline operator by the Sarawak State Government. We thank Sarawak for this recognition and make the pledge to work even harder in developing Kuching as a regional hub and attract more tourist to visit Sarawak.

"This year, we have launched four new routes, which are from Kuching to Pontianak, Kuching to Langkawi, Kuching to Shenzhen and Bintulu to Singapore, in addition to increased flight frequencies to several key routes in Sarawak. These new connectivity will certainly boost more tourist arrivals, in addition to the 3 million guests we have flown so far this year".

"Between 2015 and 2016, the number of guests travelling into Kuching, Sibu, Miri and Bintulu grew with an average increase of 290 percent. We are proud of the exponential growth and could not achieve it without the state government's support. Hence, on behalf of AirAsia, we would like to thank the Chief Minister of Sarawak, Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg, the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture Sarawak together with Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) for believing in the low cost business model and continuously supporting us in enabling everyone to fly. We look forward to continue working together to bring in more tourists into Sarawak with our extensive network."

"We applaud the Chief Minister's vision and efforts on a fully digital Sarawak and AirAsia supports this ambition," she added.

Previously, AirAsia has garnered the award for Outstanding Contribution to the Tourism Industry in the Air Transportation Category at the Sarawak Hornbill Tourism Award 2008.

Sarawak Hornbill Tourism Award aims to recognise all tourism players who contributed towards the development of the tourism sector in Sarawak to create a culture of excellence, creativity, quality services and best practice in the promotion of Sarawak as a tourism destination.

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