National carrier Malaysia Airlines has put on 280 extra flights to meet a surge in demand in the run-up to the year-end holidays and Chinese New Year, and added a route to Indonesia, it said today.

The extra flights on both international and domestic routes are scheduled for between December 22, 2003 and February 1, 2004, the carrier said in a statement.

Chinese New Year is expected to be celebrated in Malaysia late January.

"These extra flights are mounted to meet the high demand of domestic and international passengers and enable Malaysians to visit friends and relatives during the traditional year-end holiday and festive seasons," it said.

Among the additional flights are ones from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore, Langkawi, Hong Kong, Taipei, Shanghai, Kaohsiung, Phuket, Hanoi, Bangkok, Hyderabad, Bombay and Bangalore.

Ninth Indon destination

In total 45,204 additional seats are being offered to passengers through these extra flights, the carrier said.

Malaysia Airlines also announced it would begin flying thrice-weekly between Kuala Lumpur and Padang on December 21, 2003, making Padang its ninth Indonesian destination.

A two-class configured Boeing 737-400 aircraft will operate this service on a code-share with Garuda Indonesia.

"In the last few months, travel options have greatly expanded between our two countries with the introduction of services between Kuching, Kota Kinabalu and Balikpapan, and Kuala Lumpur and Manado," said senior general manager Ahmad Fuaad Dahlan. - AFP