Malaysian Air Asia facilitates Health Tourism with Low-Cost Carrier Business

Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA | October 29, 2008 by D-8 Secretariat

Low-cost carrier AirAsia is expected to start its operations this December 8 at Malacca’s Batu Berendam Airport (LTBB) which is undergoing a facelift worth RM131.5 million.

Malaysian Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam said six destinations had been identified by AirAsia for its initial operations comprising four places in Sumatra and two domestic destinations.

“The destinations jointly agreed upon, using the Boeing 737 aircraft, are Palembang, Pekan Baru, Padang and Medan in Sumatra, and Penang and Langkawi,” he told reporters after chairing the Exco meeting in Malacca today.

Also present at today’s event was AirAsia chief executive officer Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes, chairman of AirAsia Datuk Aziz Bakar and the general manager of Malaysia Airports Bhd, Abdul Rahman Karim.

Mohd Ali said the four major towns in Sumatra were selected based on their potential for medical tourism while Penang and Langkawi for their popularity as tourist destinations.

“Among other destinations being suggested are Jakarta, Kota Kinabalu and Nanjing in China and we have opened negotiations to other airline companies besides AirAsia which showed an early commitment to use the LTBB,” he said.

The expansion and upgrading work on LTBB which started last April is expected to be completed in April next year and a major aim is to provide facilities to medical tourists.

The number of medical tourists who sought medical assistance in the specialist hospital in Malacca is estimated to have gone up to more than 67,000 people last year compared with 18,000 people in 2004 with most of them coming from Sumatra.

Work on LTBB is being carried out by the Uni-Integrated consortium which will construct a new terminal covering 7,000 sq metres and is expected to be equipped with various facilities to cater to both domestic and international flights.

Mohd Ali said the Batu Berendam airport will be able to handle a capacity of 1.5 million passengers a year, adding that some 500,000 visitors are expected in the first five years.

Meanwhile, Tony said AirAsia is ready to cooperate with the Malacca government. He also described Melaka as having great potential as a tourist destination, especially in medical tourism.

“Coincidentally, December 8 is also the anniversary date of AirAsia and we are ready to take on a role in LTBB and hope to transport many tourists through the LTBB,” he said.

In the spirit of the succesfully held Third D-8 Working Group on Civil Aviation and Director Generals’ Meeting in Bali, Indonesia, on 17-18 June 2008, D-8 Organization cherished this news as a further encouragement for deeper cooperation among D-8 airlines. D-8 seeks to strengthen cooperation in the field of Civil Aviation as it would help to increase the economic and social conditions of the D-8 people. Dipo Alam, the D-8 Secretary General, said that the D-8 cooperation in this field was in line with strong commitment from each memberstates to enhance the safety, security and services of the civil aviation in order to meet the requirement set by the International standard.

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