AirAsia to take off for Luang Prabang
AirAsia to take off for Luang Prabang
AirAsia is expected to launch direct flights connecting Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and Luang Prabang province on November 21.
There will be four weekly flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, according to the Singapore's TTR weekly published on its website on September 29.
It will be the first low-cost airline service between Malaysia and Luang Prabang - a breakthrough that will reduce the cost of fares that have been prohibitively expensive.
AirAsia is the first airline to operate direct flights from Luang Prabang to Kuala Lumpur. It ends the need to book connecting flights either in Vientiane (Lao Airlines) or Bangkok (Bangkok Airways).
It will be the group's 70th intra-Asean route, and the group's fourth route to Laos. From Kuala Lumpur it flies to Vientiane and now Luang Prabang. Out of Bangkok, it flies to Vientiane and Luang Prabang.
Thai AirAsia started services on March 24 from Bangkok to Luang Prabang and to Vientiane on July 1.
The airline's commercial head, Spencer Lee, was quoted as saying that the carrier looks forward to launching more intra-Asean routes in the near future.
Of all the airlines serving Southeast Asia, the AirAsia Group is the most aggressive in adding flights to secondary cities and making affordable travel a reality for citizens of the 10 member nations of Asean.
Tourism authorities expect Luang Prabang, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, to attract 600,000 international tourists by year end compared to 500,000 visits last year.
According to provincial officials, Luang Prabang currently has 76 hotels and resorts with 1,914 rooms, and 372 guesthouses with 2,628 rooms.
Luang Prabang was recognised as a World Heritage site in 1995. Considered by many travellers and writers as being the heart of Lao culture, the small town is encircled by mountains and is 700 metres above sea level at the confluence of the Nam Khan and Mekong rivers.
Being Laos' premier tourist destination and arguably Southeast Asia's most beautiful spot, tourists will pay more for the innate pleasures of eating, drinking and sleeping than they would in the country's capital Vientiane.
