SEPANG, Oct 31 (Bernama) -- The Air Astana inaugural flight from Kazakhstan to Malaysia carrying 220 passengers landed at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) at 2.35pm Saturday.

Passengers on the eight hour flight from Almaty include Kazakhstan Civil Aviation deputy chairman Talgat Lastaev and Air Astana marketing and sales vice president Ibrahim Canliel.

Kuala Lumpur is Air Astana's sixth Asian destination after Bangkok, Beijing, New Delhi, Seoul and Urumqi (Xianjiang, China).

Almaty-Kuala Lumpur and Kuala Lumpur-Almaty services operate every Saturday with tickets starting from RM2,600 including tax for economy class and RM6,100 including tax for business class.

Tourism Malaysia Deputy Director-General (Planning) Azizan Noordin said tourist arrivals from Kazakhstan rose 25.1 percent or 5,337 for the first nine months of the year, compared to 4,774 over the corresponding period last year.

He said the opening of Tourism Malaysia office in Almaty had contributed to the rise adding officers would be sent there if response continued to be encouraging.

The involvement of Kazakhstan national carrier Air Astana would also help promote Malaysia to Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Central Europe.

--BERNAMA