Excessive or Progressive?

[IMG=21476-7302]Staring from January 2nd a scheduled non-stop flight will be operated to Kuala-Lumpur by Transaero Boeing – 757. After in 2001 Aeroflot terminated its flights on the route only connecting flights via Doha, Dubai, Singapore, and Bangkok were operated to the destination. Therefore, tour operators that specialize in the Malaysian market are generally optimistic towards the Transaero initiative. Thus, Lubov Gulidova, Director of Exotic Product Department of Capital Tour, commented as follows: ‘Flight frequency is convenient for forming 10-day tours. Moreover, rates are competitive comparing to the existing air traffic to the destination’. According to unaccredited information Transaero block rates will be around $650 while alternative variants start from $700 without taxes. Furthermore, Natalia Zhitnukhina, General Director of Interunion, observed that ‘Malaysia is not a mass-market destination; therefore at the moment it is difficult to forecast the flight will be operated at its full capacity. However, the existing tourist flow might guarantee it. The demand for Malaysia is not the same as for example for Thailand, but it is evidently stable. By the way 2007 was announced to be a year of international promotion of the destination. The Malaysian Tourist Board is actively cooperating with tour operating companies. Its advertising budget for the coming year was increased. Therefore, we hope that the interest in Malaysian resorts will grow and the scheduled flight on the route will be a success’. Meanwhile, some travel market experts believe that the existing air traffic volume meets the demand for the destination. Thus, Anatoly Garkushin, General Director of Pantheon, pointed out that: ‘apparently the new flight will be operated at its full capacity in high season, but it will hardly be the same in low one’.