By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, March 12: Sarawak Transport Minister Dato Sri Lee Kim Shin has suggested increasing the number of scheduled flights between Miri and Singapore to a daily frequency to accommodate Shell Malaysia’s relocation of its upstream activities headquarters to Miri.
In a press release issued today, Lee, also Senadin assemblyman, said that Miri has been established as the northern gateway to Sarawak, where the oil and gas industry has been established since 1910 and that Shell’s move shows its confidence in Sarawak as its preferred investment destination.
“Therefore, with Scoot flights connecting Singapore and Miri, any Shell officers from overseas who need to be in Miri will be able to fly in directly via Singapore,” he said.
In addition, he said Miri is also a popular destination for tourists as it is the second largest city in Sarawak, with a population of about 400,000.
He said this when receiving a delegation from Scoot during a courtesy call at his office at Bangunan Baitul Makmur in Petra Jaya yesterday (March 11).
The delegation, led by Singapore Airlines general manager (Malaysia) Yeo Kaijie, consisted of commercial sales manager (Malaysia) Joanne Tan and key account manager (East Malaysia) Wendy Chong.
During the courtesy call, Scoot, which is the budget arm of Singapore Airlines, briefed Lim on their plans to enhance air connectivity in Sarawak, particularly on direct flights between Singapore and Sarawak encompassing air connectivity to Miri, Kuching, and Sibu facilitated by their newly acquired Embraer E190-E2 aircraft, with a seating capacity of 112 passengers.
According to Yeo, Scoot is servicing 18 destinations in China and will provide a platform for more Chinese tourists looking for holiday destinations and connections via Singapore.
Lee also proposed that Scoot consider adjusting flight schedules to provide more convenient options for travelers between Singapore and Sibu.
Currently, Scoot is operating its flights from Singapore to Kuching seven times weekly and to Miri three times weekly via its Airbus 320 fleet.
The carrier expects to increase the scheduled flights to Miri five times weekly and to Sibu three times weekly via their Embraer aircraft by May and June this year. — DayakDaily
