Low-cost airline to stop direct flight from Oct 25 in compliance with govt directive
KUCHING: AirAsia will terminate its direct flight from Sibu to Kota Kinabalu because it has been forced to do so, its chief executive officer Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes said yesterday.
In fact, he did not deny that his airline will cease operating the route this year, when The Borneo Post contacted him yesterday.
When asked why, he replied: “Because MAS (Malaysia Airlines) protested. Only MASwings can do it.”
The Borneo Post’s sister newspaper See Hua Daily News Sabah reported yesterday that AirAsia was stopping the Sibu-KK direct flight operations because it had received a directive from the government last week.
The report quoted a spokesperson from AirAsia’s head office in Kuala Lumpur as saying that the said route was listed as a rural route and only one airline can provide the services.
The spokesperson said under such circumstances, the airline had no alternative but to follow the directive and stop flying the route from Oct 25.
“However, AirAsia is working hard to retain the route. As for those clients who have made their bookings to fly from Oct 25, we will be refunding the money accordingly,” the spokesperson said.
AirAsia flies from Sibu to Kota Kinabalu daily, using the Airbus A380 which has a capacity of 180 passengers.
According to a source here, since AirAsia started operating the Sibu-KK route in April this year, the demand had been very good with good passenger load for each flight.
AirAsia media relations executive Nazatul Mokhtar told The Borneo Post yesterday that the airline would be issuing a press statement soon to explain what was happening.
Meanwhile, people in Sibu and Kota Kinabalu were taken aback by AirAsia’s decision to cancel the Sibu-Kota Kinabalu sector.
They demanded to know the real issues behind the decision as they could see no reason for the cancellation since the daily flight between the two destinations was almost always full.
Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Robert Lau when contacted by telephone yesterday said he had not gone into details of the cancellation.
“I’ll have to find out first before I can comment,” he said from Kuala Lumpur.
Prominent local travel agent Robert Tan agreed that there could be certain “unknown reasons” that prompted the airline to make the rather abrupt decision.
But as it now stands, AirAsia has been stopped from flying to Seoul and Sydney purportedly for failing to pay landing fees to Malaysia Airports Berhad (MAB).
If that is the reason that AirAsia is stopped from flying the Sibu-KK sector, all right-minded people will surely like to know why the airline is allowed to fly to other destinations in the country.
There are more questions than answers to the cancellation, and most people think there must be other issues that caused it.
Tan, who is the managing director of Equatorial Tours and Travel Sdn Bhd, said if AirAsia was indeed running into heavy arrears of landing fees, then the airline should be assisted like by giving it a grace period to pay up, or the convenience of payment by instalments.
He said such arrangements were nothing unusual as banks everywhere were giving private companies this sort of financial convenience.
He also urged the state government to come to the airline’s rescue, saying the cancellation of the Sibu-Kota Kinabalu sector was unfair particularly to Sibu, especially at this time when Sibu people were ‘celebrating’ the ‘Visit Sibu Year’.
“Kota Kinabalu is the second biggest hub or transit point after Kuala Lumpur for flying from Malaysia to the outside world like Seoul, Manila, Jakarta, HongKong and Macau,” he noted, adding Kota Kinabalu was also the most important and cheapest stopover.
Tan felt that the decision to give up the Sibu-Kota Kinabalu route had come abruptly.
“I would say AirAsia should give the people a six-month notice,” he added.
To the travel agents, the cancellation of the Sibu-Kota Kinabalu sector is a piece of good news.
Explained Tan: “It is on-line booking for AirAsia flights. We get nothing. But passengers of MASwings come to us for the tickets. To us, ticketing agents, it’s like seeing light at the end of the tunnel now.”
He said regular Sibu-Kota Kinabalu passengers could find solace in MASwings which flies four daily flights between Sibu and Kota Kinabalu.
A bit costlier, but the capacity was there - two Fokker flights and two AT7 flights, he said.
MASwings fare for the Sibu-Kota Kinabalu flight can go as low as RM247 and as high as RM285.
However, Tan said the fare might be lower if the tickets were booked earlier.
AirAsia station manager Jackson Lau said the lowest AirAsia ticket could fetch was about RM100 and the highest, RM170.
Asked about the refund to customers who have bought the tickets for flying after Oct 25, Lau said it would take about two to three weeks to get the refund done.
He said the passenger loads for the Sibu-Kota Kinabalu sector had been good, and it was up to the management to decide whether or not - and when - to resume the cancelled sector.
A random survey of passengers’ views showed that the cancellation of the Sibu-Kota Kinabalu sector was generally felt as unfair to the people here.
Yap Hoi Liong, for one, said the government should immediately react to it to ensure Sibu folk could still fly between Sibu and Sabah at affordable fares.
He noted that the flights had always been full which showed that the demand was there. Yap, a special assistant to Bukit Assek assemblyman Wong Ho Leng, urged the government to put the interest of the people foremost when looking at the issue.
Source : The Borneo Post Online
My Opinion...
I personally prefer AirAsia when it comes to Sibu - KK route as AirAsia flies to both destinations using an Airbus which is much BIGGER (the seats are darn spacious!), FASTER, CHEAPER (no admin fee and fuel surcharge) and LESS CROWDED than Fokker and AT7 flights used by MAS. But I really hate it when they make us walk stupidly far for your flights! This is NOT SO COOL oh-kay?! !@#%^&*!
Bla bla bla... Baru ka berapa bulan udah nyamai asai isi bisi flight AirAsia ari Sibu - KK - Sibu, diatu dah ka diketu ka urang ga. Pedis amat isi aku enti ngena MASwings, udah ga lebih 2 jam 15 minit masa penerbangan, bilun ga mit. Enti maia ari jai, berasai amat bilun begegar, selalu ngasuh ati kesal! Enti ngena AirAsia baru ka 1 jam 10 minit udah datai ba destination. Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes, please do something... *Sob sob sob*
4 Hugs & Kisses:
Hello Keavy,
I'd like to take this opportunity to comment on this conversation, and to help clarify the situation revolving around the Kota Kinabalu-Sibu route. The Kota Kinabalu-Sibu route is exclusive to the operator of Rural Air Services (RAS) because AirAsia had in fact requested for routes exclusivity when its subsidiary, FAX operated the RAS.
This took place during the domestic rationalisation exercise of March 2006, and AirAsia demanded for exclusive rights to almost all of the air routes within and intra Sabah and Sarawak, which naturally included the Kota Kinabalu-Sibu route. Only AirAsia's subsidiary, FAX had the exclusive rights to ply these routes.
Therefore, we were following the RAS Agreement that is in place, and allegations of us forcing AirAsia out of the KK-Sibu route is in fact untrue. In addition, it should also be pointed out that AirAsia is bound by the RAS Agreement and as such, cannot fly these routes, which is only afforded to FAX.
Perhaps a little more history behind what actually took place: AirAsia, through FAX, took over RAS from MAS in 2006, and received higher subsidies as compared to MASwings for the same scope of air services. However, AirAsia quickly surrendered (13 months) RAS back to Malaysia Airlines when they realised how unprofitable the routes were. Is this a case of cherry picking and choosing only to operate on profitable routes? I leave it to your kind selves to make your own conclusion.
Regardless of how this is perceived, it is clear that loss of taxpayer’s money is involved here. As many of you may know, we cross subsidise profitable routes (such as the KK-Sibu route) with other unprofitable routes. By doing this, we in fact help save taxpayer’s money, as MASwings’ P&L is born by the government. There is also the untold story of job loss, as we were forced to retrench hundreds of long serving staff in Sabah and Sarawak under a Mutual Seperation Scheme, due to the initial handover handover in 2006.
Lastly, it is also noteworthy to mention that MAS handed over seven Fokker 50 as well as five Twin Otter aircraft to FAX, all of which were in excellent flying condition. When MASwings resumed RAS operations in 2007, 50% of the Fokker 50 aircraft and almost all of the Twin Otter aircraft were not airworthy. As a result, we spent an additional RM36 million to restore these aircraft back to operational conditions.
I hope that with this, you have a clearer picture of what has transpired, and will help everyone to better understand the situation with the facts in hand.
Thank you.
Encik Mohd Salleh Tabrani
Managing Director
MASwings
Mr. Mohd Salleh, Thank you very much for your clear explanations on this matter
mr salleh i'm also a frequent flyer sbw-kk route, we need a bigger plane instead of fokker 50. I really hate travelling on fokker 50 especially during bad weather, only god knows how i felt. Bigger plane, cheaper fares will be better! Not all people can afford the fares. Thanks, just my two cents opinions :)
Totally agree with Talk in Riddle opinions... (yeah, I'm a frequent fyler sbw-kk route too)...
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