RUSSIA-LANGKAWI CHARTER FLIGHTS PROPOSED

LANGKAWI (Kedah, Malaysia) March 23 (Bernama) -- Pegas Tour, a tour operator
based in Moscow, is keen to operate charter flights connecting Russian cities to
this resort island, a tourism officer of the Langkawi Development Authority
(Lada) said.

Azmil Munif Bukhari, Lada's tourism principal assistant manager, said the
agency and Tourism Malaysia had carried out initial discussion with the company
and that it had expressed interest in operating the flights, possibly starting
September this year.

The discussion took place in Moscow during the Malaysian tourism promotion
which ended last Monday, he said.

"The tour operator has its own aircraft," he told Bernama

He added that officials from the company would visit Langkawi in June to
explore the viability of the plan.

There were 24,000 arrivals from Russia to Langkawi last year.

Langkawi is currently served by charter flights operated by Finnish flag
carrier, Finnair, since December last year.

Langkawi islands are part of the northern state of Kedah, which is
adjacent to the Thai border.