KUCHING: Sarawak Transport Minister Datuk Lee Kim Shin has advised the public to exert caution and to only purchase flight tickets based on the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee’s (SDMC) approved flight schedule and frequency in order to avoid unnecessary hassle and inconvenience.
He said he had received complaints from several passengers that airlines had accepted their bookings and their fares were paid accordingly, but their flights were later cancelled.
“However, the airlines did not refund the money, instead they just retained the amount as credit,” he said in a statement today.
In response to these complaints, he personally spoke to Deputy Transport Minister Hasbi Habibollah on Tuesday, who informed him that his ministry will work out with the airline companies regarding passengers’ request for refund of monies paid for their air tickets for flights which were cancelled.
“In this regard, we are reminding all airlines to follow the SDMC-approved flight schedule and frequency to Sarawak when promoting as well as selling air tickets to the public,” he said.
He said passengers should be refunded their air ticket fare either by cash or credit directly into their bank accounts as the flights cancelled by the airlines were not listed in the SDMC-approved list.
In addition, the Ministry of Transport Sarawak (MOTS) sought the cooperation of all airlines to fully utilise the use of aerobridge in all Sarawak airports.
“This issue had caused great inconvenience and safety concerns to passengers especially the elderly, small children, and people with special needs. We hope that the airlines are sensitive to the needs of these passengers in the state, more so during this rainy season,” urged Lee.
He said MOTS had seriously and consistently monitored the flight schedule and frequency into Sarawak in tandem with the decision of SDMC.
“In fact, MOTS is also working closely with all relevant authorities on air transport, which include Ministry of Transport Malaysia, Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom), and Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM), to ensure that the airlines strictly comply with decisions made by SDMC to curtail the spread of Covid-19 in Sarawak,” he assured.
He noted that SDMC had decided the flight schedule and frequency into Sarawak for each airline since Oct 1.
This decision regarding flights was made after taking into consideration various factors, namely the Covid-19 situation in other Malaysian states, the number of available quarantine centres and rooms available in the state, the need to facilitate movement of goods and people, the medical and frontliner capacity in handling screening tests, and the need to protect Sarawakians from Covid-19.
The approved schedule and frequency for incoming flights from Kuala Lumpur, Johor Bahru, Penang, Kota Baharu, Labuan, Kota Kinabalu, and Singapore into Sarawak are shown in the attached picture.
“We are very confident that all the stakeholders involved especially the airline operators, airport operators, and passengers will play their roles with full integrity and work together in complying with the approved flight schedule and frequency as well as the standard operating procedure (SOP) issued by the government to curb the spread of Covid-19 in Sarawak,” said Lee.
