AirAsia X to open Kuala Lumpur-Beijing flight

KUALA LUMPUR - AirAsia X, the long-haul affiliate of Southeast Asia's largest budget airline AirAsia, will start flights to Beijing as it suspends the Tianjin route to meet rising demand for the Chinese capital, the carrier said on Wednesday.

The airline said it would begin flying four times weekly from Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur to the Beijing Capital International Airport from June 22 and daily, at a later date.

It will stop flights to Tianjin effective June 21 but allow impacted passengers to transfer their flight bookings to Beijing that is about 100 kilometers away.

"Our guests from Beijing have been waiting for years and we are able to finally able to meet the robust demand for this exciting destination," AirAsia's Group head of commercial Kathleen Tan said in a statement.

"China is a key market for AirAsia X, and our entry into Beijing is another major milestone for us," she added.

The airline was granted air traffic rights in June last year by the Malaysian government to Beijing and several other cities including Shanghai, Istanbul and Sydney.

It explained on its website that its decision to switch from Tianjin to Beijing Airport was "to maximize commercial opportunities in Beijing to ultimately drive increased traffic flow between China and Malaysia".