20 February 2013, Kuala Lumpur – Long-haul, low fare airline AirAsia X commenced its six times weekly flights to Shanghai from Kuala Lumpur on its inaugural flight last night departing Kuala Lumpur low cost carrier terminal at 7.35pm carrying 377 passengers. Flight D7 330 arrived in Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport at 12.20am ahead of its scheduled arrival of 12.35am. On the return flight from Shanghai to Kuala Lumpur, there was a passenger load of over 85% passenger load.
Over 50% of the passengers onboard the inaugural flight made up of Chinese nationals who were returning from Kuala Lumpur where they previously connected through the airline’s Hangzhou flight.
Azran Osman Rani, CEO of AirAsia X mentioned at the press conference held at Shanghai Paramount today that they would be able to fly its 10 millionth passenger by the end of this year with this additional route to China.
AirAsia X first announced the introduction of this route on 22 November last year in Shanghai shortly after it launched its first flight to Beijing. Launch fares of as low as MYR 199 per way on Economy or MYR 799 per way on Premium Flatbeds were being offered from 23 to 25 November for travel between 19 February to 30 September 2013.
AirAsia X’s direct flights to Shanghai from Kuala Lumpur adds more flights between both cities besides two other airlines that fly the same route – China Eastern and Malaysia Airlines.
AirAsia X operates the Airbus A330-300 aircraft for its Shanghai – Kuala Lumpur route with a configuration of 12 Premium flatbed seats and 365 Economy seats.
Shanghai is the AirAsia group’s fourteenth destination in China after Hangzhou, Beijing, Chengdu, Guilin, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Naning, Kunming, Wuhan, Chongqing and Xian including Hong Kong and Macau.