New service: operators are hoping for a stronger client base
NORTH of England-based tour operators have welcomed the new Malaysia Airlines service from Manchester.
The Kuala Lumpur flight starts tomorrow, March 30, to give Manchester its third connection to the Far East.
Services, operated by Boeing 777 aircraft, begin with a twice-weekly operation on Tuesdays and Sundays, rising to three a week with a Thursday flight being added in July.
Main operators using the flight will be Elegant Resorts, Jetset Tours, Airtours’ brand Tradewinds and the Gold Medal Travel Group’s Oriental Magic.
Chester-based Elegant Resorts is hoping the new service will enable it to gain a stronger northern client base, as well as widen options for multi-centre holidays.
Flights land in Malaysia in the morning, allowing good connections to onward domestic points such as Langkawi, plus other Southeast Asian destinations inc-luding Borneo.
Elegant Resorts said other likely options would be to use Malaysia Airlines to fly clients to Indonesia, especially to Bali, and then for them to take in a choice of Thai resorts.
Before Malaysia’s service, only Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific offered flights to the Far East from Manchester.
Clients had the choice of using these services to Hong Kong and Singapore, with connections to Malaysia, but more often would opt to use Malaysia Airlines or British Airways from Heathrow.
Jetset said the new Kuala Lumpur-Manchester service would improve its client base from the Midlands and northern counties. Head of air product Paul Neve said: “There is a huge catchment area for the service. Previously, clients had to buy add-ons to fly to London, so this will save them money.”
Neve added that it will also give Jetset options for opening up the Australia market to more people, with a mixture of flights on Malaysia, SIA and Cathay Pacific.