Airline offering free seats amid coronavirus outbreak

vt-author-image

By VT

Article saved!Article saved!

AirAsia is offering free seats to a variety of destinations in a bid to fill them during the coronavirus outbreak.

The Malaysia-based airline has included six million seats to destinations including Australia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Singapore in its "Big Sale". The offer will begin this Sunday, March 15, and it will include seats available for travel until July 1, 2021.

These are the symptoms of coronavirus: 

Some of the free seats are for domestic flights from Kuala Lumpur to Malaysia-based destinations including Johor Bahru, Penang, Langkawi, Alor Setar, and Kota Bharu.

The offer comes as, per the WHO live dashboard, there have been a confirmed 113,672 cases of coronavirus and 4,012 deaths across 110 countries from the novel coronavirus, COVID-19.

If you book one of the free seats, all you have to pay is the tax and a passenger service fee of 12 Malaysian Ringgit ($2.83).

The free seats also include short-haul flights from the country's capital to Singapore, Phnom Penh, Jakarta, and Phuket. This comes with tax and a passenger fee of 44 Malaysian Ringgit (£7.95/$10.38).

A plane in the sky.
Credit: 1601

In an interview with the Jakarta Post, AirAsia Indonesia's president director, Veranita Yosephine, said that the company was trying to stimulate tourism "especially in this challenging period."

Meanwhile, per the Daily Mail, Airasia.com CEO, Karen Chan, said: "Our first Big Sale for 2020 is here. AirAsia understands the current sentiments of our customers, that's why we're providing ample opportunity to book in advance for an affordable getaway as travel period is up to July 2021.

"The best way to snap the lowest fares and best-value travel deals is to plan ahead and book early - as with this latest Big Sale."

This is when you should self isolate because of coronavirus: 

Chan continued: "We are on track in transforming into a household travel and lifestyle brand across Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) with all you need to complete your holiday planning including flights, accommodation, activities and more, all available now on airasia.com."

If you think that you or someone you know has symptoms of the coronavirus, these are the CDC steps you should follow.