AirAsia will resume flying twice a week from Kuala Lumpur to Shantou on June 16, and four flights weekly from July.

Over and above that, the airline will start flying the Kota Kinabalu-Beijing route seven times a week from July, it announced in a statement to the media today.

This will increase AirAsia’s share of the low-cost market in China to 45%, taking into account the resumption of flights to and from Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Nanning, Wuhan, Kunming, Macao and Hong Kong.

“The rapid short-haul expansion is part of the airline’s strategy to align its international network, complementing the medium-haul connectivity to Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Beijing now served by AirAsia X,” the airline said.

AirAsia CEO Riad Asmat said the airline flew about 340,000 passengers on the Shantou route from its introduction in 2016 until the end of 2019.

Riad said the new routes would raise its capacity in its China network by 10%.

“We hope that our network will contribute to the tourism, arts and culture ministry’s target of 16.1 million international tourist arrivals this year,” he added.

To mark the resumption of the Shantou flight, AirAsia is offering a promotional one-way fare of RM369. The promotional fare for the Kota Kinabalu-Beijing flight is RM459 one-way.

The promotional fares are available for booking until Sunday for travel between April 7 and Oct 28.