MAS resurrects Kota Kinabalu flights to Perth, Osaka

FOR its upcoming winter schedule, Malaysia Airlines (MAS) will add 800 more seats in weekly capacity to East Malaysia by reinstating two routes, Kota Kinabalu-Perth and Kota Kinabalu-Osaka, which it suspended earlier this year as part of a network consolidation exercise (TTG Asia e-Daily, January 9, 2012).

The flag carrier will commence a weekly service from Kota Kinabalu to Perth from December 9, and operate twice-weekly flights from Kota Kinabalu to Osaka from December 20.

MAS will also raise the frequency on its Kota Kinabalu-Hong Kong route from daily services to nine-times weekly from December 1.

MAS group CEO, Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, said: “These services are part of our on-going commitment to boost inbound tourist arrivals to Kota Kinabalu as well as contribute towards the growth of the tourism industry in Sabah and Sarawak. We are also introducing these flights to provide better air connectivity in support of the Visit Malaysia Year 2013 campaign by the Malaysian government.”

Lex Lam, director of sales, Discovery Overland Holidays, said: “Our company lost quite a lot of business due to the suspension of flights earlier in the year (TTG Asia e-Daily, January 9, 2012). It will not be easy to regain the confidence of travel consultants. Many will adopt a wait-and-see attitude. Some will wait for up to a year to see if these sectors are stable before they start promoting the destination (Sabah) again.”

Manfred Kurz, managing director, Diethelm Travel Malaysia, was more optimistic. “Australian agents from Perth will be happy that the direct flights are back. We’ll sit down with the outbound agents and see how we can tailor-make packages for that market,” he said.

Sourced: TTG Asia