China Southern Airlines introduces KK-Shenzhen route

State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Christina Liew said they hoped to achieve State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Christina Liew said they hoped to achieve 500,000 China arrivals by the end of this year. The number of tourist arrivals from China totalled 358,000 as of July. Last year, there were 431,026 arrivals from China. NSTP/Khairull Azry Bidin.

KOTA KINABALU: Asia’s largest carrier, China Southern Airlines (CSA), is now flying from Shenzhen to this city, its second direct flight here after Guangzhou.

The inaugural flight is expected to arrive at Kota Kinabalu International Airport at 1.40am tomorrow.

This means there are now 98 weekly flights connecting Sabah and 10 Chinese cities.

State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Christina Liew said they hoped to achieve 500,000 China arrivals by the end of this year. The number of tourist arrivals from China totalled 358,000 as of July. Last year, there were 431,026 arrivals from China.

Consul-General of China in Kota Kinabalu Liang Caide said the number of tourists from China had grown over the years as Sabah was an attractive destination.

CSA general manager for Malaysia Eric Xu Wang said: “Today, we will launch our new route from with 7 flights per week with Airbus 320, by providing full services on board,” he said.

“We believe that these new direct flights will give an additional lift to commercial trade and tourism between both countries, and covering a wide range of tourism and cultural exchanges between Shenzhen and Sabah.”

Asked whether the carrier was looking to link other destinations in China with Sabah, Wang said CSA was confident there would be opportunities to open more new routes in the future with tourism developing fast in the state.

On whether the airline would divert some of the Guangzhou or Shenzhen direct flights to east coast cities like Sandakan and Tawau, he said they would have to do market research before making such a move.

-nst online.