Perth first Australian city to welcome Malindo Air

Perth will be the first Australian city on Malindo Air’s network when the airline’s inaugural flight from Kuala Lumpur lands at Perth Airport this afternoon. 

The airline, established in 2013, is owned by the National Aerospace and Defence Industries of Malaysia and Indonesia’s Lion Air.

Tourism Minister Kim Hames said the new service between Perth and Kuala Lumpur was great news for Western Australia’s tourism industry and a sign of the Asian tourism market’s appetite to visit WA.

“Malaysia is Western Australia’s third biggest market in terms of visitor spend,” Dr Hames said.

“Last financial year more than 75,200 Malaysians visited WA and injected about $196 million into the State’s economy.

“With Malindo Air expanding its network to include the Perth-Kuala Lumpur route, Malaysians will have greater aviation access to WA, which will hopefully translate into even more visitors coming to our shores.

“Research in our key Asian markets, including Malaysia, shows WA has great appeal as a holiday destination because of its wide open spaces, clear air, fresh, clean produce and abundance of natural attractions.”

The Minister said tourism was an important industry in WA which generated about 94,000 jobs and more than $8.7 billion in visitor spend.

“The State Government wants to see that number increase to $12 billion over the next five years and expanding growth markets such as Malaysia forms an important part of our strategy to reach that goal,” he said.

Dr Hames said Malindo Air was the fifth international airline to begin operating in WA since 2011 and the new services would initially bring an extra 1,260 seats per week to the Perth aviation market.