German airline Lufthansa will resume flights to Malaysia in March due to a rise in air traffic after having dropped the route in 1999, senior officials said today.

"Lufthansa will operate between Kuala Lumpur International Airportand Frankfurt next year," Azmi Murad, general manager for corporate communications and Malaysia Airports Air Traffic Services told AFP .

Lufthansa will run flights four time a week via Bangkok.

Uwe Mueller, Lufthansa's vice-president for Asia and Pacific said "the economic and passenger air traffic environment in 1999 could not support our direct presence in Malaysia.

"However, with the swift economic recovery, we are now confident of the market's potential in 2004 and beyond, and look forward to once again connecting Malaysia to Europe with our four weekly flights."

Mueller said Malaysia was quickly gaining importance as a business centre and popular holiday destination.

The government has been aggressively wooing foreign airlines to the RM10.7 billion KLIA which was built in 1998, aiming to turn the airport into a regional hub and compete with neighbouring Singapore.

Forty-four airlines now operate at the airport. - AFP