Tourism Breaking News
Malaysia Airlines celebrated the arrival of its inaugural direct flight from Kuala Lumpur to Doha via flight MH160 at Hamad International Airport (HIA) marking a milestone in the airline’s international expansion plan and efforts to enable optimal connections to the Middle East, United States, Europe, and Africa.
Upon arrival at Hamad International Airport (HIA), the Official Airport Partner of the upcoming FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ and voted the World Best Airport 2021 by SKYTRAX World Airport Awards, the A330-300 aircraft was welcomed with a water cannon salute, while passengers were given welcoming gifts upon their disembarkation. The event was co-hosted by HIA and Qatar Airways, the airline’s codeshare partner.
Malaysian Ambassador in Doha, H.E. Zamshari Shaharan; Malaysia Airlines’ Group Chief Marketing and Customer Experience Officer, Lau Yin May; Hamad International Airport’s Senior Vice President of Operations, Ioannis Metsovitis and Senior Vice President Eastern Regions of Qatar Airways, Marwan Koleilat were present to greet the first 274 passengers who arrived at HIA at 11.50pm.
Prior to the arrival, a sending-off event was organised in KL International Airport. Group Chief Operations Officer of MAB, Ahmad Luqman Mohd Azmi; together with senior officials from Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB) distributed goodies to passengers departing on MH160 bound for Doha at 9:20pm local time.
Lau Yin May of Malaysia Airlines commented, “Today marks another milestone for the national airline as we commence our new daily service from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Doha, Qatar. We are delighted to introduce this new service, our third direct flight to the Middle East after Jeddah and Madinah, further providing greater convenience to customers and widening our global footprint for seamless connectivity.
We recorded a very encouraging load factor for the inaugural flight with 80% of passengers booking for both MH160 and MH161 and glad to see encouraging forward booking reaching 80% which reflects more substantial consumer confidence to travel and in choosing to fly with Malaysia Airlines for this route.
Our service encompasses more than simply air travel. The crucial expansion to Doha will allow us to extend the Malaysian Hospitality service which proudly embodies Malaysian culture and traditions through superior service and offerings.”
Adding to the recent expanded partnership with Qatar Airways, Lau Yin May said, “As air travel recovers, it is vital for airlines to foster stronger relationships. Besides expanding the scope of destinations, tightening ties between countries and enhancing passenger services, partnerships will help rebuild traffic, boost the recovery and resume faster frequencies up to pre-pandemic level.
As a leisure and tourism player, we are delighted to play a significant role in attracting a mixture of business and leisure passengers globally and provide seamless connectivity to financial capitals and major tourist destinations in Malaysia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East Africa, the United States and Australia/New Zealand. Through our existing partnership with Qatar Airways, passengers will also gain access to a combined 96 codeshare destinations via the two strategic hubs, which will further boost the recovery of the sector as we work towards achieving 70% of our pre-COVID-19 capacity by the end of the year. Meanwhile, we would like to take this opportunity to thank Qatar Airways and Hamad International Airport for their confidence in Malaysia Airlines and of course, Malaysia Airports Holding Berhad for their support.”
