The airline will serve the route every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Flights from Bangkok will depart at 2.15pm while flights from Langkawi will depart at 5.30pm (local time).

Tassapon Bijleveld, chief executive officer, announced the opening of the route to the media in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. "We look forward to expanding our reach to Langkawi because of the growing tourism appeal towards the island, especially for tourists visiting Bangkok. As a tourism hub, Bangkok brings in millions of tourists every month. These tourists are always interested in visiting neighbouring destinations, and Langkawi is among their favourite destinations," Bijleveld said.

"We will start flying to Langkawi this January with three flights a week, but this route has the potential to have daily flights six months after its opening."

The airline offered 1,000 seats with a zero-baht airfare (exclusive of taxes and other fees) to announce the opening of the route. It continues to offer low fares to guests wishing to fly between the cities.

Langkawi will be Thai AirAsia's fourth destination in Malaysia, besides Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Kota Kinabalu.

Its other international destinations are Singapore, Hanoi, Phnom Penh, Yangon, Xiamen and Macau. It also flies within Thailand to Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Hat Yai, Krabi, Narathiwat, Phuket, Surat Thani, Ubon Ratchani and Udon Thani.