SARAWAK has agreed in principle to the latest federal government offer to take over the loss-making rural air service provider MASwings, Premier Abang Johari Openg said today.

“We have agreed in principle to take over (but) we have to do our due diligence (first),” he told reporters after witnessing the signing of a contract between Hornbill Skyways Sdn Bhd and Petronas and its associated petroleum arrangement contractors and the signing of a technical services agreement between the state government-linked air charter company and HAS International Sdn Bhd in Kuching.

MASwings, a unit of Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAB), is the rural air service provider in Sarawak and Sabah.

Abang Johari said the takeover would provide the base for the state’s proposed boutique airline.

“We are negotiating,” he said.

Abang Johari said the state was seeking more details on the federal government’s proposal.

MASwings, operating a fleet of turboprop aircraft – French-built ATR-72 and Canadian-built Twin Otters – is limited to flying in the two Borneo territories.

Abang Johari said he wanted to know if the takeover would allow MASwings to fly regional routes to the peninsula and other Southeast Asian countries.

“At the moment, MASwings cannot fly into Kuala Lumpur. (We want) to have routes beyond Borneo, particularly within Malaysia,” he said.

He had earlier disclosed that the proposed boutique airline would fly to Hong Kong, Seoul, Bangkok, Singapore and Jakarta.

Flying to all parts of Malaysia, he said, was in keeping with the boutique airline objective to moderate the airfares, particularly during the festive and school holiday period.

Sarawak’s proposal to take over the troubled MASwings stretched as far back as 2012.

Then the proposal was to buy an equity in MASwings with the federal government to still hold a majority share.

The speculation then was that Sarawak and Sabah would buy a 30% stake.

The plan was shelved a year later when the national carrier blocked the proposal as it had no desire to have another competition in an already tight air space.

Sarawak finally pulled the plug on the on-off takeover talks in 2017 with Abang Johari accusing MAB of dragging its feet on the negotiation.

“It was our intention to take over MASwings, but since they make it so difficult, we will just forget about it,” he told reporters in Kuching then. – June 15, 2023.