KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 7 — Malindo Air has started its flight route to Tawau with daily frequency.

The first flight OD1700 departed from Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) on Dec 6 at 8.10am and arrived in Tawau Airport at 9am.

Malindo Air chief executive officer, Chandran Rama Muthy said: "We are thrilled to start our connection to Tawau, the second city that we fly to in Sabah. At Kota Kinabalu, we have direct connection to Kuching, Singapore, Taipei, Wuhan and ChongQing.

"We also have five daily flights to Kuala Lumpur that link our passengers to our network ranging from Asean countries to Australia. We are anticipating business travellers, VFR (visit friends and relatives) and leisure travellers for this route.

Meanwhile, Malaysia Airports acting group chief executive officer, Raja Azmi Raja Nazuddin said as the new domestic route complemented Visit Tawau Year 2018/2019, it strongly believed the route would attract higher passenger traffic domestically, particularly leisure travellers.

The increase in Tawau Airport’s registered passengers (1.3 million as of October 2018, which was 18 per cent up from the previous year’s figure) for both international and domestic routes would also further elevate Sabah’s tourism and bring more economic benefits to the state, he said.

The flights between Kota Kinabalu and Tawau are offered at a promotional all-in, one-way fare of RM99 for Economy Class and RM399 for Business Class. The fare includes 25kg baggage allowance for Economy Class and 40kg for Business Class.

Booking can be made through the Malindo Air website: www.malindoair.com, ticketing offices, customer care centre and preferred travel agents. — Bernama