SHANGHAI: The inaugural flight of AirAsia X from Kuala Lumpur touched down 20 minutes early at the Pudong International Airport here.

Flight D7 330, which left LCCT in Sepang with a full load of 377 passengers, landed at 12.25am yesterday.

Among the VIPs on board were AirAsia X chairman Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz, CEO Azran Osman-Rani and director Datuk Fam Lee Ee.

The return flight from China's largest city departed at 1.45am with an 85% passenger load.

Prior to take-off, Azran regaled travellers with an amusing story about a character named Ah Meng who yearned to travel to Shanghai but was unable to, until he consumed some magical xiao long bao (dumplings) and was aided by a red-and-white water snake (symbolising the low-fare, long-haul carrier).

There was also a lion dance and souvenirs were distributed to passengers to mark the occasion.

AirAsia X flies to Shanghai six times weekly but from May 1, there will be daily flights.

Shanghai is AirAsia Group's 14th destination in China, after Hangzhou, Beijing, Chengdu, Guilin, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Nanning, Kunming, Wuhan, Chongqing and Xian, as well as Hong Kong and Macau.

To celebrate, AirAsia X is offering promotional fares to Shanghai from RM329 for economy travel and from RM899 on premium flatbeds.

The fares are available for online bookings from now until March 3 for travel from now until July 31. Log on to www.airasia.com for details.

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