December 21, George Town — An important step toward improving connectivity, creating job opportunities, and securing Penang’s status as a regional aviation hub has been taken with the opening of a new direct route from Chennai to Penang via IndiGo, which will begin operating today.
At 8:08 a.m., flight 6E 1045, which was carrying 146 tourists from Chennai, India, touched down at Penang International Airport.
Upon landing, the aircraft was accorded the traditional water salute, a ceremonial gesture that symbolised a warm welcome.
State Exco for Tourism and Creative Economy YB Wong Hon Wai was present to greet the visitors, joined by Ashwin Gunasekeran, the CEO of the Penang Convention and Exhibition Bureau.
Dato Manoharan Periasamy, Director General of Tourism Malaysia, Sanjiv Chawla, Vice President of IndiGo Airport Operation and Customer Services, and Srinivasan Jayaseelan, Senior Manager of IndiGo Sales in Tamil Nadu, were also present.
Wong stated that he intends to travel to important Indian cities in the early months of the following year to step up efforts to promote travel, with a special emphasis on the meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (MICE) industry.
In a statement released today, he stated, “Penang is already a top choice for international business and conferences, and we want to continue opening new doors for cooperation and expanding our opportunities.”
Wong added that the new route would serve as a vital link to access India’s sizable and quickly expanding market in addition to improving air connectivity between Penang and India.
Operating on a Boeing 737 MAX, the Chennai-Penang route will offer a comfortable flying experience with in-flight entertainment systems and full-flat business class seats.
Direct links between the two cities will be provided by this new service, which will run every day.
Over 1.01 million Indian tourists visited Malaysia as of November of this year, up 47 per cent from 2019 and 71.7% from the previous year. This indicates that Malaysia is quickly growing in popularity among Indian tourists.
“I am confident that we can draw even more tourists from India to Penang with the launch of the Chennai-Penang direct flight, raising the island’s profile on the Indian tourism map,” he said.
