Singapore Airlines Welcomes New Route
Singapore Airlines Thursday welcomed Malaysia's decision to open the lucrative Kuala Lumpur-Singapore route to competition from budget carriers AirAsia and Tiger Airways.

"We welcome the liberalization of the route," Singapore Airlines chief executive Chew Choon Seng told The Associated Press on board the first commercial flight by the Airbus A380 superjumbo from Singapore to Sydney.

Singapore Airline and Malaysia Airline currently control the route under a 34-year-old agreement to protect the two state-run airlines. Their governments have targeted liberalizing air travel between Malaysia and Singapore by January 2009.

But AirAsia, Southeast Asia's biggest no-frills airline, has been pushing for permission to launch flights on the route sooner, saying this would boost Malaysia's aim of becoming a low-cost travel hub.