Malaysia Airlines reviews Sabah Regional Network

Friday, 30 December 2011 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Further to the rationalisation exercise involving eight routes of its international network announced last week, Malaysia Airlines said it will be suspending four routes on its regional network early next year, 2012.

The suspension covers the following:

Effective 06 January 2012: Twice-weekly Kota Kinabalu-Osaka return B737 route
Effective 31 January 2012: Thrice-weekly Kota Kinabalu-Perth return B737 route
Effective 01 February 2012: Four times weekly Kota Kinabalu-Haneda (Tokyo) return B737 route
Effective 21 February 2012: Four times weekly Kota Kinabalu-Seoul return B737 route

Malaysia Airlines’ Group Chief Executive Officer Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said, “This suspension is until further notice and is part of our regional network consolidation involving single-aisle aircraft operations. We will be reviewing this situation in about three months time from the date of the first route suspension and will be deciding further by early April 2012”.

“During the suspension, we will take advantage of our existing code-share operations with Korean Air to provide direct connectivity between Sabah and South Korea using the Korean carrier’s Seoul-Kota Kinabalu return direct flights. We will also continue offering direct international connectivity to Kota Kinabalu through our existing daily B737 flights from Hong Kong and Taipei. In addition we will also use our existing 86 weekly flights between Sabah and KL International Airport (KLIA) to provide immediate connections for passengers who prefer full service flights between Sabah and the cities of Perth, Tokyo, and Osaka,” he added.

Malaysia Airlines regrets the inconvenience to passengers as a result of these route suspensions and assures that it will honour all forward bookings ticketed to date on the affected routes. Where necessary, the Company will make alternative carrier arrangements, at its own cost, to ensure minimum discomfort to passengers. As for the Sandakan-Kuala Lumpur operations, Malaysia Airlines will continue to offer this connectivity via Kota Kinabalu, 22 times weekly from Sandakan and 25 times weekly from Kuala Lumpur, using both its daily B737 flights and daily MASwings ATR services currently operating between Sandakan and the Sabah capital city.