AirAsia spreads its wings to the historical state of Melaka with new daily direct flights from Penang starting 1 July 2019. The new flight will boost tourist arrivals to the city and help support the state government’s target to attract 20 million visitors in 2019.

AirAsia Malaysia CEO Riad Asmat said, “With its UNESCO world heritage listing and rich history, Melaka is one of the number one places to visit in Malaysia. This new route further strengthens our tourism footprint in Malaysia, providing more options for international visitors to travel between the states of Penang and Melaka.

“We look forward to continuing our work to explore even more new routes to Melaka from other parts of our Asean network.”

To celebrate this milestone, AirAsia is offering free seats for the new route with all-in members fares from as low as RM12 for one-way travel. Guests can also enjoy up to 50% off on hotels in Melaka or Penang, and an extra 5% off using the promo code HOTEL5. To book, log-in to airasia.com or the AirAsia mobile app from now until 21 April 2019 and travel from 1 July 2019 to 2 June 2020.

Melaka is listed as a UNESCO heritage sites in 2008 and therefore became one of the more popular places to visit. Popular attractions in Melaka include A Famosa Fort, St Paul’s Hill, Stadthuys, and Christ Church which are colonial buildings established during Portuguese, Dutch and British era. Travelers can also enjoy water activities in Melaka Wonderland; hire a trishaw for a tour in the heritage city and stroll along Melaka River while enjoying the view of the murals painted on the historical street-houses.

This seems to be a good thing, where companies are helping to boost tourism. It benefits the community in Melaka, and I’m all for corporate social responsibility. Even if it is a little skewed towards profits.