Chief executive officer Aireen Omar said the airline’s third international route from Langkawi would bring in more Chinese tourists, based on the success of the existing Langkawi-Guangzhou route.

“When we launched the Langkawi-Guangzhou route last year, we saw a growth in the number of Chinese tourists into Langkawi of about 130% on our flights. We feel that with this new route, it would bring in more tourists from China,” she told reporters after its launch.

Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai launched the route in conjunction with the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition 2017 here today.

Aireen said China formed AirAsia’s largest tourist market to Langkawi, followed by the UK, Singapore and India.

She added that AirAsia’s passenger traffic to Langkawi had grown 30% last year from 2015.

Apart from Shenzen and Guangzhou, AirAsia also operates the Langkawi-Singapore international flight, as well as domestic flights to and from Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Johor Bahru.