New flights on Air Asia - Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)- Manado and to Makassar

New flights on Air Asia Kuala Lumpur - Manado (North Sulawesi, Indonesia) an Makassar

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Kuala Lumpur - Manado (MDC) (North Sulawesi, North Sulawesi)

Air Asia will have flights starting 12th September 2008. between Kuala Lumpur and Manado, a province in Indonesia.
There will be three direct weekly flights (Tuesday, Friday and Sunday)

Also Air Asia has a direct daily flight to Makassar (South Sulawesi, Indonesia) (formerly known as Ujung Pandang) from KL (KUL)

yes, their promo is RM 149 (after tax and surecharge) to Manado but you've to stay one night at KL.

Will this be a direct flight or with a stopover in Kota Kinabalu?

The press release says direct. In the US direct means no change of planes but NOT necessarily NON-STOP. However having checked the flights to KK, it appears these flights are indeed direct and NON-stop.

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Press Releases

21 July 2008

Experience the underwater world of Sulawesi from as low as RM49 (plus taxes)
AirAsia opens sale for Kuala Lumpur - Manado route

Sepang, Selangor – 21 July 2008 – The leading and largest low-cost carrier in Asia, AirAsia today announces that it will be opening for sale tomorrow a new route to Manado, a province in Indonesia from Kuala Lumpur. AirAsia is set to commence its inaugural flight with three direct weekly flights to Manado on 12th September 2008. Jointly, Manado is the low-cost carrier’s 15th destination and AirAsia is the first international airline to service the route from Kuala Lumpur. Presently, AirAsia is the leading airline which champions the air connectivity from Kuala Lumpur to an extensive route network in Indonesia.

Flights on Tuesday, Friday, Sunday A Flight with taxes and fees could cost 446.00 RM Malaysian Ringgits (about US$147). With some promotions it could even be less. (without taxes and fees that flight would be roundtrip 180 RM, some fares can be as lows 98 RM before taxes and fees) )

Thanks Alan. Just what I needed to hear. We are organising for Manado in July/Aug 2009 and this is a useful alternative route.

A friend suggested taking Eva Air from Los Angeles via Taipei to Kuala Lumpur (KUL) . I did a quick price comparison and they were about US$400 cheaper than Malaysian Airlines on LAX to KUL route

Don't know how it is from the UK and Europe.

By the way, the airport at Kuala Lumpur is very modern and you can check your luggage at a downtown terminal and ride the train straight to the airport, step off the train and take an elevator to the desired level. So easy. There is a big hotel attached by a pedestrian bridge to the airport.

I got a free overnight (courtesy of the airline) at a 5 star hotel in the countryside near the airport when I was there a few years ago. That is when there was a KUL to Manado (MDC) via Kota Kinabalu (BKI) (Malaysian Borneo) but that was canceled. They just couldn't fill the plane.

The food was great at the hotel and the kitchen staff, when they heard I had to leave before breakfast, made me a bunch of sandwiches.

Nice - thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Can anyone suggest the most cost effective way to get from Jakarta to Manado? Or is Garuda pretty much my only option?

Well, Garuda is the most "well-publicized" option, but actually several airlines do fly the Jakart-Manado (CGK-MDC-CGK) route, including Garuda, Lion Air, Batavia, Merpati, and (perhaps) even Adam Air.

However, as with all Indonesian Domestic carriers, their standards of "air-worthiness" and flight safety have been called into question, so much so that NO Indonesian Airlines are currently permitted to land in the E.U., or the USA.

Of course, thousands have taken domestic flights in Indonesia without incident, but as with any transport in Indonesia : "Caveat emptor!"

HB

Harley1962:

However, as with all Indonesian Domestic carriers, their standards of "air-worthiness" and flight safety have been called into question, so much so that NO Indonesian Airlines are currently permitted to land in the E.U., or the USA.

Of course, thousands have taken domestic flights in Indonesia without incident, but as with any transport in Indonesia : "Caveat emptor!"

HB

Click to expand...

Apart from "air-worthiness" I never heard the Indonesian airlines are banned to fly to USA. Indeed; there's no Indonesian airline currently fly to USA as well as no Indonesian airline fly to Europe since 2005; 2 years before EU ban which is very political.
Most of Indonesian budget airline rent old B737 from USA where hundreds of this similar plane still flying in US air.

However, I do agree - lot of improvement are required for Indonesian transportation sectors - not only for air transportation - and that's not the worst.

I asked Malaysian Airlines if it was possible to book all the way through UK to Manado. They said no. You would have to retrieve your luggage at KL and apparently AirAsia is in a different terminal. However that wouldn't bother me because KL airport is new and well-organised.

A stop-over in KL is worth a look and if you have more days get up to the Cameron Highlands which is fascinating with huge chill-out factor.

About internal Indonesian flights. We flew LionAir from Manado to Makassar and everything worked well. The plane was new and in good order and I don't recall any undue delays - but Indonesia-time is a fact of life!