SIBU — Malaysia now has direct flight connectivity to 126 cities across 37 countries and regions, with more than 3,343 international flights bringing up to 674,000 passengers into 13 gateway cities each week, said Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing.

In a Facebook post, Tiong said Asean remains Malaysia’s largest source market, accounting for 1,799 direct international flights weekly. An additional 37 transit flights via Bali, Phuket and Singapore bring the total number of Asean-related flights to 1,836 per week.

“Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand record the highest number of weekly flights to Malaysia, with 679, 470 and 331 flights, respectively,” he said.

Overall, flights from Asean can carry up to 335,000 passengers weekly, with more than one-third originating from Indonesia.

This figure also includes Australian travellers transiting via Bali, he added.

Tiong said East Asia is the second-largest source of international flights, with 818 weekly services, followed by South Asia (394), the Middle East (128), Oceania (106), Europe (43), Central Asia (14) and Africa (four).

China leads East Asia with 623 weekly flights carrying about 124,200 passengers, followed by Japan with 70 flights accommodating nearly 20,000 passengers, as well as 19 transit flights via Taipei.