FAX considering regional flights from Miri

Friday January 12, 2007

MIRI: Malaysia's third national airline Fly Asian Xpress (FAX) is mulling over plans to operate regional flights from Miri to neighbouring countries.

In the pipeline are flights from Miri to cities and towns in Kalimantan to "test" the Indonesian market, said FAX CEO Raja Mohd Azmi Razali.

FAX, recently licensed by the Government to operate international long-haul flights using the Air Asia X brand, has its headquarters in this oil capital of Sarawak.

Raja Azmi said Friday FAX wanted Miri as the base for regional operations to countries in the east Asean zone if it was commercially-viable.

"We will operate our international flights from Kuala Lumpur first before we start similar overseas long-haul flights from Kuching and Kota Kinabalu.

"These two cities in Sarawak and Sabah would serve as the bases for our international operations from east Malaysia, while Miri may be used as the base for regional flights.

"We may start with flights from Kuching and Kinabalu to cities in China, and then from Miri to Kalimantan. If the response is good, we will fly to more countries from east Malaysia," he said.

Raja Azmi was asked to comment on the feasibility of using these three cities to operate international direct flights now that Air Asia X had been given the greenlight to go international from July.

"Our foremost concern now is to establish the links between Kuala Lumpur and the international destinations we want to fly to.

"Once we have established this, then we can think of operating similar flights to overseas from east Malaysia," he explained.

FAX operates the rural air service in east Malaysia, serving some 700,000 people, many of whom are from remote places.

Source: The Star

External Links:
Fly Asian Xpress (FAX) - http://www.flyasianxpress.com