AIRASIA X’s Kuala Lumpur-Beijing flights, due to launch on June 22 (TTG Asia e-Daily, May 17, 2012), will serve to boost overall traffic between Malaysia and China, but will probably be less of a boon to travel consultants dealing in group tours.

Tan Lu Cheng, marketing representative, Yangtze Cruise & Tours Kuala Lumpur, said: “This new route will definitely help move greater traffic between both destinations. The cheap airfares will be the biggest attraction. However, we do not use AirAsia. We will continue to work with Malaysia Airlines on the route.”

Geff Hoo, sales manager, Apple Vacations & Conventions Kuala Lumpur, said: “We have no plans at the moment to use AirAsia X for group travel to and from Beijing. We will continue to work with full service carriers with scheduled flights on the route.”

Hoo, however, is anticipating a substantial increase in FIT traffic between China and Malaysia once AirAsia X’s new connection takes off.

“We have Apple Flexi where we sell ground packages in China. There would be (increased) opportunities to sell these packages to independent travellers (from Malaysia) (with the introduction of AirAsia X’s flights),” he explained.