KOTA KINABALU: The ‘MASwings Virtual Fair Promotion’ in support of the Matta Fair this month will offer from March 14 to March 31 this year a total of 150,000 seats with one-way all-in fares from as low as RM99.
These offers by MASwings are for travel on all its ATR72-500 domestic routes and international routes in the BIMP-EAGA region.
MASwings chief commercial officer Shauqi Ahmad said this is the first time MASwings, a wholly–owned subsidiary of Malaysia Airlines, offers a substantial number of seats at very attractive prices in a big way.
“We expect to receive overwhelming response from our esteemed customers who expect a good bargain from their preferred carrier and we hope to achieve our sales target of RM10 million during the promotion campaign,” he told reporters here yesterday.
Shauqi said the travel period for both domestic and international travel is from March 16 to July 31 this year, a period which coincides with the Malaysian first-term school holidays.
“We are confident that most of our esteemed customers who have yet to finalise their travel plans will take advantage of these offers,” he said.
He said customers would be able to enjoy one-way all-in fares from as low as RM99 from Kota Kinabalu to Sandakan, Tawau, Labuan, Miri, Kuching, Lahad Datu, Bintulu, Sibu, Mulu and Limbang, and those from Kuching could also purchase the similar fare of RM99 to Bintulu, Miri, Sibu, Kota Kinabalu and Mulu.
“International promotional fares are also available starting from as low as RM99 one-way to Balikpapan from Kota Kinabalu and Kuching; RM63 and RM117 to Brunei from Kota Kinabalu and Kuching respectively; and RM60 from Tawau to Tarakan,” he said.
Asked on the status of MASwings’ plan to fly from Kota Kinabalu to Puerto Princesa, Palawan, one of the destinations within the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asean Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) region, Shauqi said MASwings is still studying the feasibility of flight operations on the route.
“We have yet to decide on the deadline (to operate) because there are certain procedures to be complied with, especially with the Philippine authorities,” he said.
Asked whether MASwings’ passenger load for the Kota Kinabalu-Lahad Datu sector was affected by the armed terrorists’ intrusion into Lahad Datu, he said the number of passengers initially went down “but picked up very fast” after the commencement of Ops Daulat. — Bernama
“The average passenger load at the moment is 60 per cent and we hope it will pick up once the situation in Lahad Datu returns to normalcy,” he said. — Bernama