Michael Tiang
KUCHING: The Sarawak government is urged to step in to ensure MASwings’ new rural air services (RAS) contract will provide better flight connectivity and reasonable airfares in the state.
In making the call, Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) Youth chief Michael Tiang said it is high time for Sarawak government to do so before the new RAS contract is inked.
“According to MASwings Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Aminuddin Zakaria during a dialogue at Sibu Chinese Chamber of Commerce last Thursday (Aug 2), RAS solely operated by MASwings across Sabah and Sarawak ended in September last year.
“So far, a new contract for the extension of MASwings services in both Sabah and Sarawak has not been finalised,” he said in a press statement yesterday.
Tiang, who is a political secretary to the Chief Minister, said Sarawak should seize this opportunity to talk to both Ministry of Transport and Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) to iron out various issues on domestic flight connectivity since the new RAS contract is still in the pipeline.
He said flight connectivity for Sibu had been a major issue and became a nightmare for flyers travelling in and out of Sibu in the last decade.
Being centrally located in the state, he said Sibu relies on air connectivity and has been hoping for better connectivity for years.
“But when MASwings replaced MAS (Malaysia Airlines) in 2006, the connectivity has gotten worse and worse. Sibu is a transport hub for Sarawak’s central region, we have been demanding for better connectivity between Sibu, Kuching, Bintulu, Miri and Kota Kinabalu (KK).
“Since Sibu Airport is not an international airport, we need earlier flights to Kuching and KK so that passengers can connect to international flights,” he added.
As an example, Tiang said the earliest flight from Sibu to KK would only arrive at around 10am but most international flights to China would depart around the same time.
Apart from flight connectivity, he said MASwings airfares need to be reviewed for they had not been ‘friendly’ to Sarawak passengers.
He lamented that a round trip from Sibu to KK could easily cost over RM1,000 while a round trip from Sibu to Miri would cost over RM400.
He said MASwings is a wholly-owned subsidiary of MAS Bhd and MASwings’ cost of operating RAS is fully borne by the federal government in the form of subsidies and aircraft rental payments.
He further pointed out that MASwings is presently receiving about RM190 million per year in subsidies for its RAS concession.
“With the RM190 million annual subsidy, MASwings is not competitive in their air ticket pricing. Nowadays passengers opt for bigger aircraft and cheaper fares on other airlines, and this downward spiral will continue as long as MASwings fares are uncompetitive and unattractive.
“I appreciate that the federal government is paying subsidies to sustain MASwings so as to operate RAS in Sabah and Sarawak but I don’t understand why MASwings still needs to charge its customers exorbitant prices and by doing so MASwings is flying half-empty aircraft most of the time,” he said.
Tiang also observed that most of the best hours and routes “are taken up by AirAsia and their flights are full”.
Instead of competing for the hotspots, he said MASwings aircraft are flying at off-peak hours with very limited routes.
“Now who is the national airline that receives government subsidies here? If paying subsidies to an airline still doesn’t serve Sarawak people’s interests, the sky should be open for other commercial airlines to come in to compete or maybe the subsidies should go to support other airlines which can serve the people better,” he added.