Malaysia's budget carrier AirAsia will begin daily flights to the southwest Chinese city of Xiamen next month.

Operating through its Thai sister company, this will be the first no-frills airline in Asia to enter China.

The Bangkok-Xiamen route, starting April 25, is the first in a string of new destinations.

AirAsia group CEO Tony Fernandes says that Thai AirAsia is offering 8,888 seats at a special launch fare of 388 yuan or US$47 US a seat.

These fares, which exclude airport tax and fees, are valid from April 25 to Oct 29.

"I'd imagine that in the first year of operation, we can look at doing 200,000 to half a million people in to China. There are hundreds of ways to China, we take a way to reduce the price. Every year in Malaysia, this price will get lower, I guarantee you."

By September the airline plans to have flights to seven other cities in southern China–Guangzhou, Naning, Kunming, Wuhan, Chengdu, Chongqing and Haikou, and four ASEAN countries – the Philippines, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

AirAsia started in December, 2001, with just two aircraft serving Malaysia's limited domestic routes.

It now has a fleet of 80 aircraft and, after successfully listing on the Malaysian stock exchange last November, it announced plans to buy another 40 A320 jets at a cost of 2.5 billion US dollars by January next year.

To date, AirAsia and its affiliates Thai AirAsia and AWAIR in Indonesia have carried over 9 million passengers across the region. 

(CRI.com March 21, 2005)