by DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, May 21: AirBorneo may submit applications to provide flight services for the Kuching-Sibu, Kuching-Miri and Kuching-Bintulu routes on a commercial basis, the Ministry of Transport (MOT) Malaysia says.
According to a Bernama report, the ministry in a statement clarified that, based on a review by the Malaysian Aviation Commission in 2017, these routes are intercity flights and therefore, not categorised as Rural Air Services (RAS).
The routes also no longer fulfilled the definition of Public Service Obligations (PSO) as they were jointly operated by MASwings with AirAsia, Malaysia Airlines or both.
“Therefore, flights on these routes should not receive subsidies as they involve two cities, similar to any inter-city flight in Peninsular Malaysia.
“The change in status of these routes to commercial routes will further encourage the participation of local airlines to operate and subsequently provide air travellers in rural Sabah and Sarawak with more flight options,” the ministry was quoted as saying in a statement on May 20.
The ministry is currently seeking to clarify issues raised at the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly regarding the absence of AirBorneo flight services for the Kuching-Sibu, Kuching-Miri and Kuching-Bintulu routes.
Earlier this week, Sarawak Minister of Transport Dato Sri Lee Kim Shin pointed out that AirBorneo does not fly Kuching-Miri, Kuching-Sibu and Kuching-Bintulu routes because they were discontinued from RAS PSO framework in 2019 under Pakatan Harapan Federal Government.
He stated that the ministry has already written to MOT requesting for the reinstatement of these routes under PSO for AirBorneo to fly.
The Sarawak State government took over MASWings through AirBorneo, effective Jan 1, and is currently still in the process of transitioning AirBorneo’s operations. – DayakDaily
