Malaysia Airlines is introducing daily flights between Kuala Lumpur and Kochi and reinstating a five-times weekly service to Darwin later this year.
The national carrier will deploy a 160-seater Boeing 737-800, with a configuration of 16 business and 144 economy seats, on both routes.
From September 1, the daily Kochi route - operating under flight code MH118 - will depart Kuala Lumpur at 2230 and arrive in the Indian city at 0001 local time.
The return service - MH119 - leaves Kochi at 0050 and arrives at Kuala Lumpur at 0740.
From November 1, Malaysian Airlines is reinstating its Kuala Lumpur to Darwin service, which was suspended in 2002.
The outward journey - MH253 - will leave Kuala Lumpur at 1035 on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, arriving in Darwin at 0510.
Return leg MH252 is scheduled to depart Darwin at 0600 on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, landing in Kuala Lumpur at 0920.
Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, the airline's CEO, said: "Malaysia Airlines needs to grow in tandem with the growth of the region. This means investing in our fleet, in the quality of our product and services.
"As the national carrier, we have decided to operate to these three cities, Dubai, Kochi and Darwin to introduce Malaysia to new markets. We are happy to reinstate Dubai and Darwin into Malaysia Airlines' network to extend our reach and strengthen our offering to customers."
The airline last month increased its flights to Phuket to 26 times weekly with the introduction of one new daily service, upped its Kathmandu service from five times weekly to seven, and added an additional 12th service on its Mumbai route.
And, from August 1, MAS will be operating four times daily between Kuala Lumpur and Denpasar. The additional flight, MH867, departs Kuala Lumpur at 2330 and arrives in Denpasar at 0230. It returns as flight MH866 departing Denpasar at 0435, arriving Kuala Lumpur at 0730.
Last month, MAS announced it will resume its daily Kuala Lumpur to Dubai service from August 5 (see online news, June 28).
Graham Smith
