By Nur Ashikin Louis
SINGAPORE, Sept 15: Local low-cost airline AirAsia will be increasing its flight frequency between Sarawak and Singapore beginning next Thursday (Sept 22).
Capital A Berhad chief executive officer (CEO) Tan Sri Tony Fernandes said the airline is in the midst of handling legal matters related to it.
“We are just waiting for the rights and (so on) but yes, definitely (will increase flight frequency).
“One of the (matters involved) is planes. So as we get our planes coming back, we will increase (flight frequency),” he said during a press conference to celebrate the return of AirAsia operations to Changi Airport T4 in Singapore today.
Elaborating further on the same subject, AirAsia chief revenue and network officer Paul Carroll said Sarawak already has direct routes to Singapore from Miri and Kuching, with the airline looking at the possibility of other markets from Sarawak.
“The (flight) frequencies, we will be ramping up from next week, Sept 22, where we will bring all of these markets above the current frequencies,” he said.
At the moment, there are daily flights for the Kuching-Singapore route and four times a week for Miri-Singapore route.
“We are looking into increasing (Kuching-Singapore flights) to 12 weekly. It will initially go up to 10 flights and by the end of the year, it will go up to 12 times per week.
“Pre-Covid it was 12 times weekly.
“And for the Miri-Singapore route, by November, that (frequency) will be reinstated to daily flights,” Paul explained.
Based on AirAsia’s data, Kuching-Singapore and Miri-Singapore are the only two international routes it has to Sarawak.
Other than that, the State has 11 routes to Peninsular Malaysia, four routes to Sabah, and three routes within the State. — DayakDaily
