KUALA LUMPUR, 7 March 2019: Malindo Air is planning a clever move to link two popular holidays islands, Langkawi and Phuket, with direct flights starting 31 March.
Bookings are not yet open for the new route, but advance timetable information on Airlineroute suggests the flight will operate for the summer timetable months April to October.
The low-cost airline, part of Lion Air Group, will fly the route Langkawi-Phuket three times a week on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday.
The flight will depart Langkawi at 1015 and return from Phuket at 1135. Using a 70-seat ATR-72 flight time is around 50 minutes covering a distance of 252 km.
It will mark the first direct air link between the two islands and could help to draw more tourists, staying in Phuket, to consider a trip Langkawi. It could also appeal to residents living in Phuket and surrounding coastal provinces looking for new destinations
Currently they have to take a six-hour and 45-minute bus trip south along the Andaman coast to Tamalang port in Satun province to board the ferry for Langkawi (a one-hour and 15-minute sail departing at 1500)
The airline already links Langkawi with direct flights to China. It offers 12 weekly flights from China – four weekly flights from Chengdu and Kunming respectively and three weekly flights from Guiyang using a Boeing 737-800.
