Southeast Asia's most visited country expands international air routes to boost tourism

Tiong said that the new services comprise 16 scheduled flights and five charter flights to be operated by 10 airlines, linking Malaysia with destinations across ASEAN, East Asia, Uzbekistan and Sri Lanka.

Of the 16 scheduled routes, 13 will commence within December, while the remaining routes will begin in January. These routes will add 81 direct flights to Malaysia, with a maximum capacity of nearly 14,000 passengers per week.

For the five charter flights, four will start in December, while one will commence next month, he said.

According to the minister, the new flight services will involve eight countries and 17 destinations, connecting nine Malaysian airports, namely Kuala Lumpur, Subang, Penang, Johor Bahru, Kota Kinabalu, Tawau, Kuching, Ipoh and Langkawi.

East Asia remains the main focus of the route expansion, with seven scheduled flights and three charter flights connecting Malaysia to eight cities in China.

In addition, new scheduled flights will be launched to Osaka of Japan, and Busan of the Republic of Korea, while Taichung, Taiwan (China), will receive charter flight services.

Within ASEAN, six scheduled flights will connect Malaysia with Singapore, Jakarta and Medan in Indonesia, as well as Cebu in the Philippines.

Meanwhile, Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and Colombo, Sri Lanka, will each receive one scheduled flight.

Malaysia has been the most visited country in Southeast Asia this year, with over 28 million arrivals recorded in the first eighth months, an increase of 16.8% year-on-year.

The country works towards 47 million international arrivals and US$80 billion in revenue for Visit Malaysia 2026.