MIRI, March 1: Discussions will be held with lowcost airline MYAirline Sdn Bhd to establish Miri as an international gateway, says Minister for Transport Sarawak Dato Sri Lee Kim Shin.
“We are looking into the possibility of making Miri an international gateway so that travellers from Sarawak have more choices. Currently they have to fly to Kuala Lumpur or Kota Kinabalu whenever they want to travel overseas,” he added.
He stressed that Miri could be a strategic gateway as it located near Brunei Darussalam.
“We will discuss further on this international flight establishment with MYAirline,” Lee added.
Earlier, Lee was amongst 178 passengers on board MYAirline flight Z9 8301 from Kuala Lumpur to Miri, the lowcost airline’s inaugural flight to Miri from Kuala Lumpur.
Meanwhile, MYAirline CEO Rayner Teoh said that they are open for any discussion over the matter of making Miri an international gateway.
On MYAirline’s inaugural flight from KL to Miri, Lee said, that his ministry is looking forward to this higher frequency of flights between Kuala Lumpur and Miri, as the timing and comfort of doing business will be less hassle especially with additional flights to bring cargo or travellers to Miri.
“We are very pleased that MYAirline has become a key player in Sarawak as an air transport operator besides Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, Batek Air and MASwings,” he added.
He noted connectivity is very important to Sarawak which has isolated air-travel markets where passengers have few viable alternatives to air travel.
“We hope to exploit this position in the global air-travel network by building hubs with far-reaching spokes.
“Today marks an immensely monumental milestone as with this route, MYAirline now has three connecting destinations from West Malaysia and Sarawak, namely: Kuching on 1 December 2022, Sibu on 18 January 2023 and Miri on 1 March 2023,” Lee added.
This, he said, is a testament to and recognition of Miri by the airlines and big industry players, as well as of their confidence in Sarawak, especially on what Miri can provide and offer as the preferred investment destination, particularly for the oil and gas industry in Malaysia.
“As at today, Miri has three domestic airlines operating from Kuala Lumpur direct to Miri (Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia and MYAirline). This is certainly an honour for us in Miri and I applaud the dedicated team from MYAirlines for making it all the way to Miri,” Lee added.
Also present was Deputy Minister of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Datuk Sebastian Ting. — DayakDaily
