LANGKAWI’S tourism sector, which has been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, is finally coming alive, with more flights touching down at the Langkawi International Airport (LIA) each day.

Langkawi Development Authority (Lada) chief executive officer Dr Ahmad Hezri Adnan said this meant more tourists were flying in, hence giving a huge boost to tourism operators on the island.

“A total of 27 flights arrived at the LIA yesterday, with 23 more today. We were informed that hotel bookings around the island have been encouraging and, if it stays that way, we can achieve the target of 250,000 tourist arrivals this month,” he said.

He told reporters this after welcoming the inaugural AirAsia AK6289 flight from Kota Baru, Kelantan, which touched down on the island holiday resort at 1.15pm today.

It is learned that since December 17, the LIA has been handling more than 20 arrivals per day from Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2; Senai International Airport, Johor; Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport, Subang, Selangor; and Penang International Airport, with the trend expected to continue until the end of this month.

On the Kota Baru-Langkawi route, Hezri said AirAsia was scheduled to operate three flights per week – Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday – beginning today.

“Today’s flight, with 96 passengers aboard, took an hour and five minutes to arrive from Kota Bharu. The Langkawi-Kota Baru flight, with 108 passengers aboard, departed at 1.40pm,” he said.

AirAsia will operate its Ipoh-Langkawi route next Wednesday. – Bernama, December 19, 2020.