MALAYSIA AIRLINES EYEING NEW MIDEAST DESTINATIONS

By Muin Abdul Majid

DUBAI, Oct 15 (Bernama) -- Malaysia Airlines is studying the possibility of
adding at least three new Middle Eastern destinations to its network, said
regional general manager for Middle East and Africa, Merina Abu Tahir.

She said the national carrier viewed the Middle East as a region showing big
potential for growth.

"The Middle East is definitely an area that Malaysia Airlines would want to
concentrate on. We're eyeing at least three new destinations," Merina told
Bernama here but declined to name the prospective cities.

She said for a start, the award-winning airline would begin thrice-weekly
direct flights between Kuala Lumpur and Istanbul on Oct 25.

At the moment, the service to the Turkish city is via Dubai.

Merina said delinking Dubai from Istanbul would increase the airline's
capacity for Dubai as well as Istanbul.

"That's the first step in our growth (plans) in the Middle East, and going
forward we're looking for more areas to grow in this region," she added.

Malaysia Airlines operates non-stop flights between Dubai and Kuala Lumpur
five times a week, and via Karachi twice a week.

It also offers three weekly flights between Dubai and Beirut, and four
weekly flights between Jeddah and Kuala Lumpur.

The airline also has code-share flights from Abu Dhabi, Cairo, Bahrain, Doha
and Muscat to Kuala Lumpur.
-- BERNAMA