Kuala Lumpur, September 2, 2015 – The inaugural flight by ANA, Japan’s leading airline, arrived last night at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA). The new, non-stop daily service from Tokyo’s Narita Airport operates using a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft.
The inaugural flight was welcomed with an official water turret salute, and the passengers were delighted to be greeted by a Malaysian cultural troupe together with VIPs from the Ministry of Tourism and Culture Malaysia and Malaysia Airport Holdings Berhad.
Dato’ Abd Hamid Mohd Ali, Chief Operating Officer of Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad said, “Malaysia Airports is thrilled to welcome Japan’s leading airline, ANA back to Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) and we look forward to enjoying an even greater level of connectivity from Asian region to any other destinations in the world, thanks to ANA’s extensive global route network. We are glad to see that ANA recognises the strong growth opportunities that exist in the Malaysian market and they are very anxious to capitalize on them.
“The economic and cultural ties that exist between Malaysia and Japan continue to strengthen and the arrival of ANA is a testament to that growth. We welcome their arrival and look forward to a long and mutually beneficial partnership,” he added.
Mr. Jun Katagiri, Senior Vice President of Sales was on board the inaugural flight, which was nearly fully booked with 230 passengers. He spoke to media and other guests who came to the airport to welcome the first passengers from Tokyo.
“Malaysia is an important market for ANA, and we look forward to serving the growing demand for travel to Japan,” Mr. Katagiri said. “Also, there are no direct flights between Malaysia and North America, and we are seeing more demand for passengers from both markets transiting in Tokyo. So we scheduled these Kuala Lumpur flights for easy connections to our international and domestic network from Narita. Our network, combined with our award-winning service and cutting edge aircraft makes us very competitive.”
ANA expects strong demand for the Kuala Lumpur route from three types of passengers. First, the number of Malaysian visitors to Japan has been skyrocketing since the Japanese government eased visa requirements in 2013, and 2014 saw a 41% increase in arrivals, with a further 16% increase during the first seven months of this year. ANA is also expecting to fly more business passengers from Japan, as well as demand for connecting flights to/from North America via Narita. From September to November, more than 60% of bookings on the Tokyo Narita-Kuala Lumpur route came from outside Japan, and about half of that is demand between the US and Asia, exceeding ANA’s expectations.
During the April to June quarter, ANA saw a huge increase in bookings from overseas for its international flights to Japan. The number of bookings from continental Asia increased 59%, and bookings North America jumped 38% compared to the same period one year ago. During the same quarter, the number of international visitors using ANA’s Experience JAPAN Fare (https://www.ana-cooljapan.com/ejf/) more than doubled, as they chose ANA to explore beyond Tokyo for just JPY10,800 per passenger per sector.
ANA’s daily service departs KLIA at 7.00am (MST) and arrives at Tokyo’s Narita Airport at 3.00pm (JST). The return flight departs Tokyo at 5.20pm (JST) and arrives in Kuala Lumpur at 11.35pm (MST).
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner is a 240-seat passenger aircraft with 42 seats in Business Class and 198 seats in Economy Class. ANA has partnered with Malaysia’s Brahim’s Holdings Berhad to offer halal menu options, and all in-flight meals on Kuala Lumpur departures to Tokyo supplied from Brahim’s will be halal-certified.