7.8 million passengers, 41,890 tonnes of cargo until Sept

AIRCRAFT and passenger traffic at all airports and Short Take-Off and Landing (STOLPorts) airports in Sarawak stood at 97,129 aircraft movements carrying 7.8 million passengers from January until the third quarter of this year.

State Transport Minister Datuk Seri Lee Kim Shin said for the same period, a total of 41,890 tonnes of cargo was transported by air.

In terms of Malaysian domestic flights after the suspension of MYAirline operations on Oct 12, Lee said Sarawak receives an average of 372 flights weekly from Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu, Johor Bahru, Penang, Kota Bharu and Labuan.

He said the routes are now served by five airlines namely Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, Batik Air, Firefly and MASwings.

“Kuching International Airport receives the most flight frequency which is 183 flights weekly, followed by Miri Airport with 89 flights, Sibu Airport (49), Bintulu (32), Mulu (7), Lawas (2) and Limbang with three flights respectively.

“For Sarawak domestic flights, there are 624 flights weekly connecting Sarawak major cities, towns and rural settlements under the Rural Air Service (RAS).

“Miri Airport handles the highest number with 189 flights weekly, followed by Kuching (144), Sibu (63), Bintulu (4) and the rest to smaller airports and STOLports respectively. The flight operations are operated by AirAsia, Firefly and MASwings,” he said in his ministerial winding up speech at the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) sitting, today (Nov 27).

Meanwhile, for international flights to Sarawak, Lee said Sarawak recorded 40 flights weekly, mostly from Singapore with 35 flights weekly, Jakarta, Indonesia (three) and two flights weekly from Brunei Darussalam.

He added Kuching International Aiport receives 31 flights weekly, followed by Miri (six) and Sibu (three) respectively.

The routes are served by Airasia Berhad, AirAsia Indonesia, Malaysia Airlines Berhad, Scoot Tiger Airways and Royal Brunei Airlines.