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AirAsia has launched its “one million free seats” promotion for flights from its seven hubs: Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu, Kuching, Johor, Bangkok, Jakarta and Bali.

The free seats are available for booking between Aug 26 and 31 for travel between April 1 and July 31 next year. Passengers need only pay for fuel surcharges and airport tax.

The campaign includes flights to more than 105 routes in the Asean region and China as well as to Perth and Melbourne.

“We are also offering great hotel rates and packages under ‘Go Holiday’ to go along with the free flights,” said the low-cost carrier’s regional head of commercial Kathleen Tan in a statement yesterday.

The offer is available for six days from today at www.airasia.com. – Source : TheStar

FIREFLY passengers will get to enjoy bigger leather seats with wider leg space with the airlines’ newly launched ATR 72-500 aircraft.

The plane, which departed from Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport in Subang at 6.50am yesterday, arrived at the Penang International Airport at 9.30am after a brief stopover in Kota Baru.

At the runway, the bright orange aircraft was greeted with a water salutation by the airport’s fire brigade while its passengers received a warm and colourful welcome from a kompang troupe.

Firefly managing director Eddy Leong said the new aircraft was more fuel-efficient and had a more comfortable cabin interior compared to the Fokker 50-seater planes.

He said the company planned to replace all its Fokker-50 aircrafts with 10 new ATR 72-500 planes by next August.

Leong said the airline’s cheap airfares, flight experience and direct flight services made it a premium airline.

“We don’t require lengthy check-ins because we are smaller in size. We will also be introducing complimentary in-flight refreshments in November,” he said, adding that Firefly passengers now received a generous 20kg baggage allowance.

Penang Tourism Action Council (PTAC) chairman Datuk Kee Phaik Cheen, who was at the airport to welcome the passengers said as Firefly was flying in the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle (IMTGT) region, Penang had a tourist catchment of 70 million.

The airline currently operates flights from Penang to Subang, Langkawi, Kuantan, Kota Baru, Kuala Terengganu, Phuket, Koh Samui, Medan, Bandar Aceh and soon to Sumatra.

AirAsia X has announced its latest international route from Kuala Lumpur to Melbourne.

The low-cost carrier also announced its first round of travel deals of fares from as low as RM99 from Kuala Lumpur and AUD199 nett from Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur.

AirAsia X will fly direct to Melbourne Airport (Tullamarine) on Nov 12 with four return flights per week between Melbourne and Kuala Lumpur.

It is planning to increase to daily return flights during the peak season from December to mid-January 2009.

The route will be serviced by the airline’s first brand new wide-bodied Airbus A330 aircraft and includes choices of hot meals on board, fixed-backshell seats with trademark sleek black leather upholstery, in-flight entertainment, power points in all seats and even WIFI access in-flight entertainment services.

Melbourne will be AirAsia X’s fourth destination in its long-haul network following the launch of services to the Gold Coast, Hangzhou (Shanghai) and Perth.

Guests can book online at www.airasia.com or mobile.airasia.com and the promotional fares will be made available between Aug 21 to 24 (Malaysian time) for travel period between Nov 12, 2008 to April 30, 2009. – Source : TheStar