Mavcom to look into increasing Peninsular Malaysia-Sarawak flights, says Lee

KUCHING (Sept 27): The Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) will look into the urgent needs to increase flights between Peninsular Malaysia and Sarawak, and also within the state, said Sarawak Transport Minister Dato Sri Lee Kim Shin

He said this was the assurance given by Mavcom Executive Chairman Datuk Seri Saripuddin Kasim after he had personally called him over the recent announcement by the Malaysia Airline Group (MAG) Airlines on its substantial flight reduction.

Lee said Saripuddin had responded to his request and endorsed the proposal for airlines to increase flights to Sarawak routes, compensating for the reduction in services by the MAG.

“Following the notification from MAG about flight reductions, I reached out to Saripuddin and received his support for my proposal to allow any airline that would like to enhance their services to Sarawak,” said Lee in a statement today.

On a related development, Lee also met with Batik Air yesterday, urging the airline to increase flight frequencies to Sarawak, particularly during peak travel periods such as Christmas in December, Chinese New Year in January, Hari Raya in March, and Hari Gawai Dayak in June.

“These adjustments aim to accommodate the increased passenger volume during festive seasons,” he said

He pointed out that Miri being a significant major oil and gas development centre, and the fact that many Bruneians prefer Miri as their departure point, should be an indicator of a substantial market potential for the airline industry via Miri.

Consequently, he called on Batik Air to establish a direct route between Kuala Lumpur and Miri.

In this regard, Mohd Fauzi Rejab from Batik Air’s Business Development responded that while their current fleet is fully utilised, the airline plans to increase flights to Sarawak routes next year, Lee said.

Currently, Batik Air operates four daily flights between Kuala Lumpur and Kuching and one daily flight between Kuala Lumpur and Sibu.

Starting this Nov 1, they will also launch two daily flights between Kuala Lumpur and Bintulu.

Also present at the meeting with Batik Air were state Deputy Transport Minister (Aviation and Road) Datuk Dr Jerip Susil, Permanent Secretary to Transport Ministry Datu Wong Hee Sieng, Aviation Technical Advisor Sio Yew Hua, Head of Aviation Division Zulkarnain Rosli, and Batik Air Passenger and Cargo Sales General Manager Navarajan Subramaniam.