KUALA LUMPUR – Low-cost carrier AirAsia Group Bhd is adding 42 weekly flights from Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah to Sarawak, from December 4 until January 5 next year.
In a statement, AirAsia said it just received confirmation from the Sarawak Transport Ministry (MoTS) and Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) today for the additional flights.
The budget airline said it has been continuously engaging with MoTS, and had submitted applications to permanently increase its scheduled flight frequencies from Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah into Sarawak on several occasions since the beginning of this year.
This includes the latest request submitted last week on the operations of extra flights for the upcoming holiday season, covering both Christmas and the Chinese New Year (CNY).
Therefore, AirAsia said the additional flight approval has brought fares down from around RM1,000 for a one-way ticket, to below RM200 for a trip from Kuala Lumpur (KL) to Kuching. It noted that tickets have been quickly snapped up.
Meanwhile, AirAsia Malaysia chief executive officer Riad Asmat expressed his gratitude to SDMC and MoTS for their approval during the Christmas holiday season.
“For the record, AirAsia used to fly over 300 weekly flights into Sarawak pre-Covid-19 – connecting Kuching, Sibu, Miri, and Bintulu to KL, Penang, Johor Baru, Kota Kinabalu, and various other destinations in Malaysia.
“Just for KL to Kuching alone, we used to fly between 12 and 15 flights daily on this hugely popular route before Covid-19. But with the latest approval today, AirAsia will be flying five daily flights between KL and Kuching – which is a 67% reduction in our capacity due to restrictions by SDMC,” Riad said.
He appealed to MoTS and SDMC to approve the airline’s request for extra CNY flights, and to remove frequency restrictions on all approved flights entirely to enable it to better manage cost-efficiency and lower fares for passengers.
“AirAsia has always pledged our full commitment and support towards the full reopening and resumption of travel and tourism activities in Sarawak, as well as looking forward to continuing to work closely with all relevant regulators, the federal and state governments, civil aviation and health authorities, and tourism bodies to ensure the highest standards of compliance and conformance are in place for every single flight that we operate.”
Similarly, Malaysia Airlines had also received approval from SDMC to operate additional flights to Sarawak on December 11-January 5.
Previously, travellers took to social media to vent their frustrations over steep flight ticket prices from the nation’s capital to Kuching during the Christmas period, with some comparing them to airfares from KL to London. – The Vibes, November 27, 2021
