Minister To Meet AirAsia CEO On Reinstatement Of Flights

October 04, 2008 20:58 PM

KUCHING, Oct 4 (Bernama) -- Sarawak's Tourism Minister, Datuk Michael Manyin, will meet AirAsia Bhd group chief executive officer, Datuk Tony Fernandes, to discuss the reinstatement of the Kuching-Bali and Kuching-Macau direct flights.

Manyin, who expected tough talks with Fernandez on Wednesday, said AirAsia decided to suspend the routes due to low passenger load.

"They have asked us to give an assurance that the passenger loads on the flights be between 60 and 70 percent if we want the routes to be reinstated.

"How can we give the assurance when we were given only two months to market the Kuching-Bali route, which was introduced in May this year and suspended in August," he told reporters at the Hari Raya Open House of state Second Minister of Planning and Resource Management Datuk Seri Awang Tengah Awang Ali Hassan here today.

The Kuching-Macau flights will be suspended from Oct 26.

Manyin proposed that AirAsia stop flying directly back to Kuching and instead have one stop-over on the return flight for the two routes.

He said AirAsia could also use smaller aircraft for the return flights.

"The outbound flights do not pose problems as there are passengers. However, the return flights from the two routes have low passenger loads," he said.

Meanwhile, Manyin said the target of four million tourist arrivals was unlikely to be achieved this year due to the current global economic turmoil.

Source: BERNAMA