Dhaka, April 21 -- AirAsia, the Malaysian budget carrier, has announced that it will start a daily direct service from Kuala Lumpur to Quanzhou in Fujian, China commencing May 1.

Quanzhou was known to Arab traders as Zaiton and was praised by Marco Polo as the "one of the two greatest havens in the world for commerce." It was once among world's biggest ports and the starting point of Maritime Silk Road.

Riad Asmat, Chief Executive Officer, AirAsia Malaysia, said, "AirAsia has been championing connectivity to secondary cities in China such as Guilin, Shantou and Nanning. This Kuala Lumpur-Quanzhou service further grows our footprint of unique destinations in China, and will provide greater accessibility to Malaysian and Chinese travell...