SIBU, Dec 27 — Malaysia will introduce 21 new international flight routes from this month until mid-January next year as part of preparations for Visit Malaysia Year 2026, said Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing.

In a Facebook post, Tiong said the new services comprise 16 scheduled flights and five charter flights to be operated by 10 airlines, linking Malaysia with destinations across Asean, East Asia, Uzbekistan and Sri Lanka.

“Of the 16 scheduled routes, 13 will commence this month, while the remaining routes will begin in January (2026). These routes will add 81 direct flights to Malaysia, with a maximum capacity of 13,936 passengers per week.

“For the five charter flights, four will start in December, while one will commence in January (2026),” he said.

According to Tiong, the new flight services will involve eight countries and 17 destinations, connecting nine Malaysian airports — Kuala Lumpur, Subang, Penang, Johor Bahru, Kota Kinabalu, Tawau, Kuching, Ipoh and Langkawi.

He said East Asia remains the main focus of the route expansion, with seven scheduled flights and three charter flights connecting Malaysia to eight cities in China.

In addition, new scheduled flights will be launched to Osaka, Japan, and Busan, South Korea, while Taichung, Taiwan, will receive charter flight services.

Within Asean, six scheduled flights will connect Malaysia with Singapore, Jakarta and Medan in Indonesia, as well as Cebu in the Philippines.

Meanwhile, Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and Colombo, Sri Lanka, will each receive one scheduled flight.

“Most of the new routes will be operated by local airlines. Batik Air will handle eight scheduled flights and one charter flight, while AirAsia will launch one scheduled flight and one charter flight, in addition to one scheduled flight by Firefly,” he said.

Tiong added that foreign carriers expanding operations in Malaysia include six airlines from China — Loong Air, Shandong Airlines, Xiamen Airlines, Hainan Airlines, Sichuan Airlines and Juneyao Air — which will operate five scheduled flights and three charter flights.

The remaining new flights will be operated by South Korea’s T’way Air. — The Borneo Post