Kuala Lumpur: India's approval to Malaysia for operating nine more flights to the country indicates that the strain in bilateral ties following the rounding up of Indian IT professionals in a mishandled March raid was "over", the Malaysian Prime Minister-designate has said.

India's decision to give clearance last week to nine more Malaysian Airlines System (MAS) flights is a "clear indication that an episode that strained bilateral ties between New Delhi and Kuala Lumpur was over and done with," Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said.

He was referring to a crackdown on illegal immigrants during which Malaysian police detained some 270 Indian IT professionals, most with valid documents.

New Delhi froze the approval for more Malaysian flights in the wake of the raid, for which Badawi had apologised to India as the then acting Prime Minister.

"It's a strategic cooperation (with India); we enjoy good relations and we must further enhance it," Badawi, who takes over premiership from Mahathir Mohamad in October-end, told the Travel Agents Association of India's (TAAI) convention in Genting Highlands near Kuala Lumpur.

With the additional frequency, new MAS flights will be introduced to Bangalore (1), Hyderabad (2), Mumbai (2) and to the new destination Kolkata where it will operate four flights a week, Tourism Minister Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir told reporters.

The airline has also been given permission to fly jumbo aeroplane to Chennai, he said adding, MAS already operates 18 flights to India, including to Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad.

PTI