The first international flight service from Veer Savarkar Airport in Andaman and Nicobar Islands started on Saturday with AirAsia's aircraft on the Kuala Lumpur-Port Blair route landing here, officials said.
The AirAsia flight from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia landed here at 10.20 am with 120 passengers. The plane then took off after 30 minutes for Kuala Lumpur from here with 150 passengers, they said.
Speaking to PTI, Chief Airport and Customer Experience Officer, AirAsia, Kesavan Sivanandam said, "The inbound flight from Kuala Lumpur with 120 passengers including Malaysian and Japanese tourists arrived here at Port Blair around 10.20 am and it departed for Kuala Lumpur around 10.55 AM with 150 passengers. Today, it’s a historic moment as AirAsia became the first carrier to start international flight service from Port Blair." AirAsia would run thrice a week - Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday - flight service between Kuala Lumpur and Port Blair.
He said, "The response is very good and we are expecting more tourists from South East Asian countries in the near future. Our motto is not only looking at commercial viability but also connecting people. I would like to thank the local administration for all their support." Tour operators in Andaman feel that the commencement of AirAsia flights to Malaysia will be a big game changer in the tourism sector in Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Southeast Asia.
"I would like to convey my sincere thanks and congratulations to AirAsia for taking this initiative to extend air connectivity from Andaman and Nicobar Islands to South East Asia. The Airports Authority of India has invested a lot in strengthening both ground and air navigation infrastructure to boost the air connectivity of the region," Airport Director, Port Blair, Devender Yadav said.
Andaman and Nicobar Islands Civil Aviation Secretary, Vishwendra, who was also present during the inaugural session of the international flight, said, "With the commencement of AirAsia international flight to Kuala Lumpur, we are expecting that more aviation companies will come forward to start their international flights from Port Blair. We will provide all assistance to private carriers."
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