AIRASIA LANDS IN INDIA`S SILICON VALLEY

KUALA LUMPUR, May 20 (Bernama) -- AirAsia flew into the Silicon Valley of
India today, with the launch of its inaugural flight on the Bangalore-Kuala
Lumpur sector.

With this launch, Bangalore became the seventh destination for AirAsia in
India after Trivandrum, Kolkata, Chennai, Kochi, Tiruchirappali and Mumbai, the
low-cost airline said in a statement.

"AirAsia will be operating its brand new Airbus A320 aircraft on the Kuala
Lumpur-Bangalore route, with 100 per cent load on the inaugural flight.

"The sector is already witnessing a load factor of almost 85 per cent in the
first few weeks," it said.

In the statement, AirAsia Regional Head (Commercial) Kathleen Tan said
the daily service was expected to cater to significant traffic including
business and leisure travelers as well as students to and from the tech-hub in
Southern India.

The service was also expected to cater to and promote medical tourism in
Bangalore as the airline foresaw a huge demand from the health sector with
patients seeking medical assistance from Bangalore-based institutions, she said.

On Thursday's flight, AirAsia carried 15 children with Congenital Heart
Disease who will undego open heart surgery the Narayana Hrudayalaya Heart
Institute, the largest heart hospital for children in the world.

AirAsia is offering all in fares from as low as RM25 (US$1=RM3.2) to guests
travelling from Bangalore as part of its recently announced promotion offer of
one million free seats.

-- BERNAMA