1st International Flights In Decades: AirAsia Malaysia Adds Port Blair As 15th Indian Destination

Summary AirAsia Malaysia will begin flying to Port Blair.
It will be Port Blair’s only international route and the carrier’s shortest Indian service.
Helped by multiple other Indian destinations added this year, the airline plans record capacity to the country.
AirAsia Malaysia is the pan-Asian low-cost carrier’s original and largest unit. Its schedule update over the weekend to OAG disclosed a never-served-before Indian route. Beginning in November, it will fly from Kuala Lumpur to Port Blair, the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Welcome, Port Blair!
The 754 nautical mile (1,396 km) route begins on November 16. It will be the carrier’s shortest Indian route and will cover half the distance of number two, Kuala Lumpur-Bhubaneswar. For context, Port Blair is so far from the Indian capital, New Delhi, that it is nearly the same distance from Hong Kong.
Image: GCMap
The route, which will operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, is scheduled as follows, with all times local. Flights will be available to book soon. Notice that passengers will ‘time travel’: due to the block time being less than the time zone change, they’ll arrive in India before they take off.
Kuala Lumpur to Port Blair : AK55, 10:40-10:20
: AK55, 10:40-10:20 Port Blair to Kuala Lumpur: AK54, 10:55-16:15
Photo: Alexiushan | Shutterstock
What is the demand?
Booking data shows that the point-to-point market was almost nonexistent in 2023. I wonder what incentives AirAsia Malaysia has received to launch flights. It would be logical to say that passengers connecting elsewhere within Southeast Asia or even to Northeast Asia or Australia will help. However, these places had fewer than 1,000 roundtrip passengers.
Having to fly to the Indian mainland only to fly back again did not help. Moreover, how many people purchased a separate ticket to visit the Andaman and Nicobar Islands while on the mainland is unknown. They would not be counted.
Photo: Feeqazmir | Shutterstock
Despite Port Blair’s geographic location, its international traffic – as low as it is – is mainly to/from the Middle East. The carrier must grow Asian traffic strongly, helped by non-stop flights, low fares, and hopefully great promotions. I love the entrepreneurial nature of the brand-new route.
AirAsia Malaysia’s 15th Indian destination
All the unit’s Indian routes are flown from Kuala Lumpur. As of August 12, and subject to change, it plans 15 Indian destinations and 11 to 15 daily take-offs from Malaysia in November/December. The figures only relate to this one unit. They exclude AirAsia X (which serves Delhi and Amristar from Kuala Lumpur) and other units of the Group.
Image: GCMap
Aside from Port Blair, the carrier has benefited from adding multiple other destinations so far this year:
Thiruvananthapuram (flights returned in February 2024, having last been served in 2011)
(flights returned in February 2024, having last been served in 2011) Jaipur (April 2024; previously served by AirAsia X)
(April 2024; previously served by AirAsia X) Ahmedabad (May 2024)
(May 2024) Guwahati (August 2024)
(August 2024) Kozhikode (August 2024)
(August 2024) Lucknow is next (flights begin in September)
No wonder AirAsia Malaysia has record Indian capacity. Examining November/December data using OAG shows that it plans 147,000 departing seats, up by 53% in 2023 and 22% in 2019.