KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 18): Malindo Airways Sdn Bhd will introduce its first destination in Japan next month, operating thrice weekly flights between Kuala Lumpur and Hokkaido on March 23.

The three flights from Kuala Lumpur are on Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday.

In a statement today, the full-service airline said it will deploy a narrow-body Boeing 737-800, comprising 12 business class and 150 economy class seats for the flights.

"Booking is now available at a promotional fare of RM799 for economy class and RM1,999 for business class, on Malindo Air website, ticketing offices, customer care centre and its preferred travel agents," it added.

"Hokkaido marks a new milestone, being the 17th country that we service in our network. We are anticipating good response to this route and looking at increasing the frequencies in the near future," Malindo Air chief executive officer Chandran Rama Muthy said.

"With the new service, we are also hoping to bring in more international traffic to Malaysia, in supporting the local tourism and airport arrivals,” he added.

Malindo Air's fleet comprises 13 ATR 72-600s and 30 737s as of Feb 2018. The airline operates over 800 flights per week across 57 routes in the region.