Malaysia sees surge in Chinese New Year charter flights, welcomes 287 passengers from Shenyang

Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Minister of Tourism, Arts, and Culture, YB Dato Sri Tiong King Sing, along with representatives from Malaysia Airlines and Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB), extended a personal welcome to passengers arriving at Kuala Lumpur International Airport from Shenyang, China, on a Malaysia Airlines charter flight today.

The flight, MH8827, was a special charter carrying 287 passengers on an Airbus 330 from Shenyang, located in Liaoning province, northeast China. This charter flight is part of a recent increase in new routes and charter flights from China to coincide with the Chinese New Year and Spring Festival holidays, commencing in January 2024. Malaysia has seen the arrival of six charters thus far: Firefly’s Nanjing-Tawau route (beginning January 23), Batik Air’s Chengdu-Langkawi route (beginning February 5), Batik Air’s Zhengzhou-KUL route (beginning February 5), Batik Air’s Chengdu-Kota Kinabalu route (beginning February 9), Batik Air’s Chongqing-Langkawi route (beginning February 10), and Batik Air’s Xian-KUL route (beginning February 11).

In 2024, Malaysia has also seen the introduction of several new routes by both local and foreign airlines, including China Eastern Airlines’ Beijing-KUL route (operating four times weekly, beginning January 31), Loong Air’s Hangzhou-KUL route (operating three times weekly, beginning February 1), Batik Air’s Kunming-KUL route (operating four times weekly, beginning February 9), and the upcoming Batik Air’s Zhangjiajie-KUL route (operating three times weekly, beginning February 18).

The announcement of visa-free travel for Chinese travelers, effective December 1, 2023, has sparked increased inquiries and bookings to Malaysia from China. Trip.com has reported a 53.9 percent increase in inbound travel to Malaysia for the Chinese New Year in 2024 compared to the previous year.

In 2023, Malaysia welcomed 1.47 million arrivals from China, marking an exponential growth of 593.4% compared to the same period in 2022, which saw 212,603 arrivals.

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