AirAsia celebrated its inaugural flight to Mumbai from Kuala Lumpur on FRiday, signifying its foray into Western India.

In a tourism and economic coup for both countries, AirAsia will be servicing the Kuala Lumpur – Mumbai route between the Low Cost Carrier Terminal and Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport with four direct flights weekly through its low cost, long haul affiliate, AirAsia X.

Dato’ Sri Tony Fernandes, Group CEO of AirAsia and founder of AirAsia X said: “We are thrilled to start this much-awaited service to Mumbai and provide the people of this magnificent city with unrivalled low-fare flights to Kuala Lumpur, the Gateway to ASEAN and beyond. AirAsia, the World’s Best Low-Cost airline, is determined to help in enhancing the tourist and commercial links between India and Malaysia. Mumbai is our sixth destination city in India, after Trivandrum, Kolkata, Chennai, Kochi and Tiruchirappali.

“At AirAsia, 2010 is fast becoming the Year of India. We started out by establishing our strong presence in the ASEAN region (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations), followed by our vast expansion into China. With AirAsia X, our low-cost, long-haul affiliate, we reached further – to Australia and the United Kingdom. AirAsia has a strong domestic high frequency network that enables the people from India to connect to Malaysia and visit beautiful places like Langkawi, Sabah, Sarawak and tap on our incredible network using Kuala Lumpur as a gateway to the many points served by AirAsia to destinations such as China, Bali, Phuket, Australia, London and many more. Moving forward, we are also looking at introducing flights from Bangkok to this vibrant city later in the year”, concluded Tony.

The new service to Mumbai will not only complement AirAsia’s aggressive growth in India but also feed more traffic into both countries. Guests flying on the new route will have the chance to experience the new comfortable ‘flatbed Premium seats’ on the brand new A330 aircraft. The flatbed seats are standard business class specifications of 20” width, 60” pitch and stretches out to 77” in full recline position. The seats feature universal power sockets, adjustable headrests and built-in personal utilities such as tray table, drink holder, reading light and privacy screen. The new improvement is set to distinguish the world’s most successful low-cost long-haul airline as a distinctive leader in the market, further bolstering the brand as the advocates of innovation and excellence.

To mark the celebration, AirAsia is offering low fares for travelers from Mumbai – Kuala Lumpur.

To add value, AirAsia, under its one stop travel portal - AirAsiaGo at www.airasiago.com is also offering online hotel deals to stretch the dollar where guests can choose their holiday lodgings from over 70,000 hotels, tour packages and ground transfers. Guests are also encouraged to purchase food, baggage online to enjoy more discounts and savings through www.airasia.com.

Jointly, the AirAsia Group will have a total of 148 flights weekly to the various points in India which include Tiruchirappalli, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Kochin, Trivandrum, Bangalore, Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai (to Kuala Lumpur and Penang).