Revival of Brunei-Kuching flight will strengthen bilateral ties – Minister

KUCHING: The ties between Brunei and Sarawak will be strengthened further with the revival of the Kuching-Brunei route by Royal Brunei Airlines (RBA).

In stating this, Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said all this while, Sarawak had been looking left (to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur) for transit flights.

“Now, there is an alternative venue (Brunei) and the tourism packages being offered by RBA are very, very good,” he said at a luncheon to commemorate the flight’s arrival here yesterday.

The RBA is reviving the route between Kuching and Brunei, with the first landing at Kuching International Airport on Friday after a five-year absence.

“On behalf of the Sarawak government, my ministry, Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) and the people of Sarawak, thank you so much (RBA) for making Kuching a part of your destinations.”

He said the flight revival coincided with the launch of the ‘Visits Sarawak 2019’ campaign and New Year Countdown at Kuching Waterfront this Dec 31.

Abdul Karim added that a direct flight between Haikou, Hainan and Kuching would take place in January 2019 with two weekly flights.

RBA chief commercial officer Martin Aeberli remarked: “We are extremely delighted to reconnect the beautiful city of Kuching with the rest of our network and provide the missing air link to Brunei once again.”

He said there had been a |strong demand and support from their customers and stakeholders to reinstate the Brunei-Kuching sector.