AirAsia Malaysia resumed its domestic flight operations today after a one-month hibernation. Seen here is AirAsia Malaysia chief executive officer Riad Asmat (second left), who was at the scene to ensure smooth operations.
KUCHING: After a month-long hibernation period, AirAsia today resumed its scheduled domestic flights in Malaysia with the first flight from klia2 to Miri, Sarawak this morning.
The resumption of services will initially be for key selected domestic routes, which will increase gradually to include international destinations around the region, once the situation improves and governments lift borders and travel restrictions.
Strict health controls and social distancing protocol are in place, in compliance with the regulations.
Executive Chairman of AirAsia Group, Datuk Kamarudin Meranun said: “AirAsia works actively with all relevant regulators, local governments, civil aviation and health authorities, and adheres to guidance from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to ensure the highest standards of compliance and conformance are in place for every single flight we operate in our network.
“We will require guests to wear a mask and practise universally recommended protective precautionary measures including social distancing and observing high personal hygiene.
“All our aircraft, which are fitted with hospital-standard High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters, will also be sent for a thorough disinfection every night stop.”
This resumption of Malaysia’s AirAsia operations will be followed by Thailand (May 1, 2020), Indonesia (May 7, 2020) and the Philippines (May 16, 2020), subject to approval from authorities.
“Despite the unprecedented environment we are currently in, we are continuing to build on our strengths and especially our brand so as to emerge stronger when normalcy returns.
“We hope to continue to sustain the 1.3 million jobs and counting in the sector in the region, directly and indirectly, and double our economic contribution to ASEAN’s GDP from US$15.3 billion in 2018 to US$35 billion in 2030.”