NEW DELHI, Jan 17 — Malindo Air will start flying to Varanasi in north India, the airline’s 10th destination in the country.
“Varanasi will be our new destination in India from March. We will initially have three weekly flights. We see demand from pilgrims and tourists for this service,” the Malaysia-based airline’s spokesman Suresh Vanan told Bernama.
An ancient city on the banks of the Ganges river, Varnasi is an important Hindu pilgrimage point located in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh dating to the 11th century B.C. Regarded as the spiritual capital of India, the city draws Hindu pilgrims who bathe in the Ganges River’s sacred waters and perform funeral rites. Along the city’s winding streets are some 2,000 temples, including Kashi Vishwanath, the “Golden Temple,” dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva.
Suresh expects the service to also draw travellers to Malaysia from major cities located near Varanasi.
At present Malindo Air has 61 weekly flights between Kuala Lumpur and nine Indian cities.
“We have done well on every route since we started flying to India in December 2013. Many passengers from India use our regional network from Kuala Lumpur to travel to Indonesia, Thailand, Australia and Singapore,” Suresh said.
Transfer passengers make up 60 per cent of Malindo fliers from India.
Malindo Air is a Malaysian premium airline with headquarters in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia. The name Malindo signifies a cooperative pact between the two countries, derived from the countries’ names – Malaysia and Indonesia.
Malindo Air operates from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) and the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport (also known as the Subang Airport, Subang SkyPark or LTSAAS) in Subang, Selangor, Malaysia. The carrier currently operates a young fleet of Boeing 737-900ER, 737-800 and ATR72-600 aircraft for both domestic and international flights.
From a two-destination operation (Kuala Lumpur-Kuching and Kuala Lumpur-Kota Kinabalu) five years back, Malindo Air currently operates more than 800 flights weekly to 57 destinations in 16 countries across Asia and Australia.
Source : Bernama
