AirAsia is expanding its presence in India by adding Ahmedabad to its network starting in May, increasing the group’s route map to 11 destinations in the country.

This growth comes after the recent confirmation of new routes from Kuala Lumpur to Thiruvananthapuram and Jaipur, set to launch in February and April, respectively. These additions are in response to the Malaysian government’s decision to permit visa-free entry to Indian citizens from December 2023, allowing them to stay for up to 30 days.

“We continue to celebrate the commendable initiative by the Malaysian government for the visa-free entry into Malaysia for Indian nationals,” AirAsia Aviation Group CEO Bo Lingam says.

“When we launched our very first flight into India in 2008, our vision and mission had always been to enhance affordable connectivity between our two nations," Lingam says. "Both Malaysia and India have plenty of untapped tourism potential, and it has been amazing to see how travel has boomed in both countries in the last decade.”

The new route between Kuala Lumpur International Airport and Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport will commence on May 1, operating four times per week using Airbus A320s. AirAsia will become the second carrier to serve the destinations nonstop in addition to Malaysia Airlines’ 4X-weekly Boeing 737-800 service, which launched in December. Once AirAsia begins flights, there will be about 2,800 weekly two-way seats between the cities, with AirAsia talking a 51% capacity share of the market.

The LCC currently flies from Kuala Lumpur to Bengaluru, Chennai, Cochin, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Tiruchchirappalli, while medium to long-haul affiliate AirAsia X serves Amritsar and New Delhi. The addition of Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Thiruvananthapuram will therefore grow the group’s network to 11 destinations in India.

India is AirAsia’s sixth-largest international market from Malaysia at present, with 22,500 two-way weekly seats. The latest schedules filed with OAG Schedules Analyser indicate capacity will swell to about 27,000 two-way weekly seats from May.