KLIA Multiply Connections to Middle East With Arrival Of Mahan Air
KL International Airport (KLIA) now offers more connections to Middle East when Mahan Air, the second largest carrier in Iran made its historic maiden landing to Malaysian soil today.
SEPANG - KL International Airport (KLIA) now offers more connections to Middle East when Mahan Air, the second largest carrier in Iran made its historic maiden landing to Malaysian soil today.
Effective today, Mahan Air offers twice weekly flights, from Shiraz to Kuala Lumpur vice versa on Thursdays and Mondays, utilising A310-300 with 196 seating capacity.
The inclusion of Mahan Air saw the number of Middle Eastern airlines serving KLIA increasing to nine, offering 64 flights weekly to various capital cities. Apart from these Middle East airlines, Malaysia Airlines also offers 16 flights weekly to the Middle East and AirAsia X recently started flying to Abu Dhabi with five flights weekly.
Currently, the other Middle Eastern airlines flying to KLIA are Iran Air, Emirates, Gulf Air, Saudi Arabian Airline, Etihad, Qatar Airways, Kuwait Airways and Yemenia Yemen Airways.
Mahan Air also added to KLIA's growing number of airlines to 59 and Malaysia Airports is confident in attracting more airlines to fly to Malaysia with its relentless marketing effort.
Dato' Azmi Murad, Senior General Manager of Operations Malaysia Airports said: "Malaysia Airports is thrilled to welcome yet another airline to KLIA. Mahan Air's presence will further multiply the connectivity at KLIA, particularly to Middle East countries."
"Preliminary statistics of passenger movements from Middle East sector in 2009 recorded 1.4 million passenger movements which indicate a growth of 5.8% from 2008, and we foresee this sector will continue to contribute higher number of passenger movements this year," he added.
Spokesman of Mahan Air (Hossein Hosseini, Director of Marketing and Route Development) said: "Mahan Air is pleased to provide this terrific new addition to our international portfolio and will offer our local and connecting passengers one of the most beautiful leisure destinations in the world."
In today's welcome reception, Dato' Azmi greeted and presented the arriving passengers of Flight W5 1083 from Shiraz with souvenirs from Malaysia Airports. Among the arriving passengers were His Excellency Mohammad Sadik Kethergany, Ambassador of Malaysia Iran, and Mr. Majid Hejazi, the Managing Director of Shiraz and Fars province airports. The flight from Shiraz to Kuala Lumpur takes approximately eight hours.
Mahan Air, based in Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran is ranked as the second largest air carrier in Iran. The airline was formed in 1991 as a private company with a fleet of two airplanes. Mahan Air currently owns a fleet of 26 Airbus and Boeing jet transports and operates scheduled passenger service to twelve international destinations in Europe, Far East and the Middle East (Amritsar, Bahrain, Bangkok, Birmingham, Damascus, Delhi, Dubai, Dusseldorf, Istanbul, Kuwait, Kuala Lumpur, Jeddah). Mahan Air also operates a 17 point domestic network within Iran. For more information on Mahan Air, please log on to www.mahan.aero