International flights started at Veer Savarkar Airport, Air Asia flight from Kuala Lumpur landed

On Saturday, Veer Savarkar Airport in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands started to offer its first international air service. An Air Asia flight from Kuala Lumpur arrived here at 10.20 a.m. This flight carried 120 passengers. The aircraft carrying 150 people departed for Kuala Lumpur 30 minutes after arrival at Veer Savarkar International Airport. Kesavan Shivanandam, Chief Airport and Customer Experience Officer at Air Asia told the press about this.

Speaking to the media, Kesavan Sivanandam said, "Air Asia flight with 120 passengers including Malaysian and Japanese tourists arrived at Port Blair from Kuala Lumpur at 10:20 am. Half an hour later at 10:55 am, it departed back to Kuala Lumpur with 150 passengers. Today is a historic day as Air Asia became the first carrier to start international service from Port Blair." Air Asia would be operating flights between Kuala Lumpur and Port Blair three days of a week.

He further said, "Response is good. We are expecting many tourists from South East Asian countries in the coming days. We basically want to connect people. I would like to thank the local administration for support." Tour operators in Andaman termed it a big game changer. He said the beginning of flights by AirAsia to Malaysia would bring sea-change in the tourism sector of Andaman and Nicobar Islands besides South East Asia.

Andaman and Nicobar Civil Aviation Secretary Vishwendra was present during the inaugural ceremony of the international flight. He said, "With the launch of Air Asia international flight to Kuala Lumpur, we are expecting more aviation." Vishwendra said that many companies will come forward to start international flights from Port Blair.