Air Asia X – the long-haul arm of no-frills carrier Air Asia – announced the initiative last year, but only installed the child-free zones this week.

The policy means that youngsters are banned from rows 7-14 – the first seven economy class rows – on Airbus A330-300 flights to China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Australia and Nepal.

Passengers booking online can choose to sit in that section by paying the standard seat reservation fee of RM35-RM110. Any group containing a passenger younger than 12 will not be able to book these seats.

The zones also contain “special ambient lighting”, according to the Air Asia X website, providing a “more relaxing atmosphere”.

The new seating plan follows a move by rival Malaysian Airlines to ban children from the top deck of its Airbus A380 “superjumbo” aircraft.

A number of surveys have claimed that the majority of passengers find noisy children their biggest gripe when flying.

A poll of Telegraph Travel readers carried out last year found that nearly 70 per cent would support the introduction of child-free flights.