KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA: A man took everyone by surprise onboard the inaugural AirAsia flight from Guangzhou to Kuala Lumpur yesterday when he stood up in the cabin and proposed marriage to his girlfriend.

"We are high up in the sky, a place nearer to God ... allow me to ask ... would you marry me?" Zhou Liang (above, left)?asked Yan Yaming, 27, whom he had been dating for six months.

Zhou Liang, 31, from Shanghai, received loud cheers from the 130 passengers onboard when his red-faced girlfriend nodded in assent. The couple were on their way to Malaysia to celebrate Yan Yaming's birthday on Jan 21.

AirAsia Bhd granted the happy couple a return ticket to Phuket as a wedding gift.

The new route to Guangzhou is AirAsia's fourth destination to China after Shenzhen, Xiamen and Macau.