AirAsia increases flights for Sarawak as other airlines cut back

KUCHING (Sept 26): AirAsia has agreed to increase flight frequency and the size of aircraft to cater to Sarawak’s needs and the surge in demand during festive seasons, said state Transport Minister Dato Sri Lee Kim Shin.

A meeting with AirAsia (Sarawak Affairs) director Hamdan Mohamad on Wednesday, said Lee, came following the Malaysia Airlines Group’s (MAG) recent announcement on a temporary reduction of flights for Malaysia Airlines, Firefly and Amal.

“Malaysia Airlines flights from Kuala Lumpur to Kuching, Miri, Bintulu and Sibu; as well as Firefly flights from Kota Kinabalu to Kuching, Kuching to Miri, and Penang to Kuching will be substantially reduced,” Lee said, quoting the MAG’s letter content.

“AirAsia has agreed to increase flights following the MAG’s reduction of flights and I’m pleased that it has taken positive measures to increase flights to meet the needs of the Sarawak market,” said Lee in a statement today.

“As I was informed by AirAsia, there were 359 flights weekly in August, which have been increased to 364 flights in September.

“However, due to the off-season in October, it is slightly reduced to 356 flights, but in Nov and Dec, it will increase to 384 flights and 406 flights respectively,” he said.

On top of that, he said AirAsia will also use a wide-body Airbus A330 to fly between Kuala Lumpur and Kuching daily from Dec 20 to Jan 6; and from Jan 17 to Feb 10; to cope with the surge of demand during the festive celebrations.

The Airbus A330, AirAsia’s medium- and long-range wide-body aircraft, can accommodate 377 passengers and flies international routes such as Dubai, Sydney, China, Tokyo and Seoul.

Meanwhile, on the high price of airfares for Sarawak’s domestic flights, and between Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia, Lee called upon AirAsia to consider reducing its price ceiling.

Besides AirAsia, he said the ministry had also contacted Malaysia Airlines and Batik Air for a meeting to deliberate on the matter.

Also present at the meeting were state Ministry of Transport (MoT) deputy minister Datuk Dr Jerip Susil; permanent secretary Datu Wong Hee Sieng; aviation technical advisor Sio Yew Hua; head of Aviation Division Zulkarnain Rosli; and AirAsia sales manager Mohammed Firdaus Mohamed Zaidi.