AirAsia adds Quanzhou to its Asian routes

AirAsia will be flying direct daily from Kuala Lumpur to Quanzhou in Fujian, China.bOnce, one of the world’s biggest ports and the starting point of the Maritime Silk Road, Quanzhou was known to Arab traders as Zaiton and was praised by Marco Polo as the “one of the two greatest havens in the world for commerce”.

Thanks to its status as a major trading port for more than three centuries, Quanzhou today remains a melting pot of diverse cultures and religions, and boasts many Buddhist and Hindu temples, mosques and churches, as well as museums celebrating its proud maritime heritage.

Some of these must-visit sites include the Kaiyuan Temple, the largest Buddhist temple in Fujian, which was built over 1,300 years ago, as well as the Qingjing Mosque, China’s oldest Arab-style mosque, inspired by the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus.

Then there is the Luoyang Bridge, one of the ‘four ancient bridges of China’, which resembles a silver dragon lying above the green waters of the Luoyang River.

Another site is the largest stone carving of the famous Chinese sage Laozi made during the Song Dynasty, which is found at the foot of Mount Qingyuan.

Meanwhile, the beautiful port city of Xiamen is only an hour away by high-speed train.

AirAsia Malaysia CEO Riad Asmat said: “AirAsia has been championing connectivity to secondary cities in China such as Guilin, Shantou, and Nanning.

“This Kuala Lumpur-Quanzhou service further grows our footprint of unique destinations in China, and will provide greater accessibility to Malaysian and Chinese travellers.

“We look forward to exploring opportunities to connect our, other secondary hubs in Malaysia to China as well.”

AirAsia currently is offering promotional all-in fares from RM99 for those who book flights from Kuala Lumpur to Quanzhou from now till Sunday at airasia.com or via the AirAsia mobile app, for travel from May 1 to Oct 26, 2019.