Air Asia To Open More Routes To China

Malaysia-based low-budget carrier Air Asia has announced that it is adding four new destinations in China in 2009.

The new destinations are Tianjin, Chengdu, Xi'an, and Chongqing. Tony Fernandes, CEO of Air Asia, says that since it takes only 30 minutes to travel from Tianjin to Beijing, the addition of Tianjin as a destination means a non-stop flight to Beijing for the company.

It is learned that Chinese passengers currently account for 60% of the total passengers of Air Asia. Fernandes says that after the above destinations are added, the number of Chinese passengers they carry is expected to reach 1.5 million, an increase of 500,000 over 2008.

Currently, AirAsia flies to Guangzhou, Guilin, Haikou, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, and Macau.