IN BRIEF
low-cost carrier
Newcomer Asmara Airlines to
bring in more Malaysian visitors
Thailand hopes next month's launch of Malaysia's new low-cost carrier, Asmara Airlines, will boost its target of attracting 1.6 million Malaysian tourists next year, reported the Bernama News Agency.
Wiwatchai Boonsak, director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) office in Kuala Lumpur, said he was told the airline would begin operating next Wednesday."The airline is expected to fly to Hat Yai from Kuala Lumpur and Penang. "We hope the number of Malaysian tourists visiting Thailand, especially to Hat Yai and Phuket, will increase with the new airline," he said at a recent briefing in Kuala Lumpur on TAT plans for next year. Little is known about Asmara, which is said to be backed by a young corporate figure from Perak in peninsular Malaysia, except that it will fly international routes. Wiwatchai said the number of Malaysian tourists, currently the largest group visiting Thailand, had increased in the past few years, thanks to the emergence of AirAsia, which flies to Bangkok and Chiang Mai from Kuala Lumpur. - The Nation.
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