MASwings flight suspensions will be raised in parliament

TAWAU: Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Christina Liew will bring up in parliament the issue of MASwings’ intention to suspend its flights in Sabah and to Tarakan, Indonesia.

She said Sabah needs to have domestic flights that connect Sandakan, Lahad Datu, Labuan and Tawau as without any domestic flights it would also affect the tourism efforts.

However, she said there had been no official announcement yet, but the information she received was that starting January 2019 MASwings would not be flying to Tawau.

Christina said the Chief Minister had already been briefed about the intended suspension and the ministry would take up from there.

“I don’t think it is a good idea. I have already informed MASwings’ deputy CEO that the state government would protest should MASwings stops its Tawau flights,” she said yesterday. “We hope MASwings will continue for at least one more year before they decide what they need to do next,” she said.

Christina said it is already November and that means the state government is given only one and a half months to come up with an alternative solution.

It was reported last year that MASwings would cease operations for six routes, with the others being Kota KinabaluMiri, KuchingMiri, KuchingKota Kinabalu and Kuching-Sibu. Former Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai was then quoted as saying this was decided after a study by the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) on rural air services (RAS).

Tourism operators in Sandakan feel let down with news that MASwings has decided to cancel its Kota Kinabalu-Sandakan flights effective January 1, 2019.

Sandakan Tourism Association president Johnny Lim said a major reason for low hotel occupancy rates in Sandakan is the lack of air connectivity into this east coast town, which translates to low tourist arrivals.

He said with the upcoming cancellation, the low arrival situation will continue to spiral downwards.

“As it is, the Sandakan community is already facing uncertainty about the airport runway extension.

“Despite great fanfare about the airport extension announcement last year, work has yet to begin,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Lim said tourism operators hope that the new government will reverse the decision announced by the previous government last year and allow MASwings flights to continue until other commercial airlines are ready to take up these routes.