KUCHING: The Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) recently approved an airlines’ request to operate additional inbound flights from Sarawak to West Malaysia and Sabah.
Transport Minister Datuk Lee Kim Shin in a statement said that SDMC and the Ministry of Transport Sarawak (MOTS) had received this request.
“SDMC has reviewed and studied the matter on a case-to-case basis. As of Sunday, SDMC approved AirAsia’s requests to operate ferry flights
(nil passengers) from Kota Kinabalu to Miri and inbound commercial flights from Miri to Kota Kinabalu on April 1 and 10.
“AirAsia will also operate ferry flights from Kota Kinabalu to Kuching and commercial passengers flights from Kuching to Kota Kinabalu on April 2 and 9. Moreover, AirAsia will operate ferry flights from Johor Baharu to Kuching and commercial passengers flight from Kuching to Johor Baharu on April 2,” he said.
Lee added that they have also received requests from Sarawak students studying in Sabah for inbound flights from Kuching to Kota Kinabalu and Miri to Kota Kinabalu.
“Based on the requests received, we have liaised with Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, Malindo and Maswings to consider operating special flights from Kuching to Kota Kinabalu and Miri to Kota Kinabalu to meet the demand of our students.
“For this purpose, we advise our students to contact the airlines directly to book their flight tickets so that the airlines will, in turn, apply for special flights from SDMC to the aforementioned destinations,” he said.
Lee also said that he hopes the approach will help students return to their campuses and allow them to resume the new semester timely which will physically start on April 5.
