Sabah assessing impact of MASwings cutting services

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah is assessing the impact of a move by local air carrier MASwings to cut services on key routes to make way for commercial airlines, especially if this will lead to an increase in fares.

State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said the Sabah Tourism Board had been asked to study the impact of the reduction in MASwings’ services within the state and Sarawak.

“The question is whether other airlines will enjoy the rural routes subsidy that MASwings has. If the answer is no, then will the fares be more expensive for the passengers?” he said.

“And without the subsidies, will there be enough passenger load to enable the airlines to maintain or lower their fares as well as improve flight frequencies?” Masidi pointed out.

Last week, Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai had told Parliament that MASwings would be stopping its Kota Kinabalu-Sandakan, Kota Kinabalu-Tawau, Kota Kinabalu-Miri, Kuching-Miri, KuchingKota Kinabalu and Kuching-Sibu routes from next year to make way for commercial airlines.

He said the move was decided after a study by the Malaysian Aviation Commission found that the six routes – jointly operated by MASwings with airlines such as Malaysia Airlines and AirAsia – had a high load factor of up to 86%, making it more profitable for commercial airlines.

The Government, said Liow, was ready to consider applications by commercial airlines to operate the Rural Air Services in both states but this meant that it would not be able to subsidise MASwings anymore.

Sandakan Tourism Association president Johnny Lim said the ceasing of the Kota Kinabalu-Sandakan sector by MASwings would be damaging for the industry in the east coast district.

MASwings, he said, was needed to maintain the frequency of flights for the sector.

Lim said while MAS and AirAsia were also operating the Kota Kinabalu-Sandakan route, these were however not frequent enough to meet demand.

He said it was still uncertain whether both airlines were willing to increase their frequency once MASwings had stopped its flights.