SARAWAK Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg says he is revisiting a proposal for the state to have its own “small airline” as he is “still not happy” with air connectivity in Sarawak.

He said even though several foreign airlines fly into Kuching, on top of flights by domestic carriers AirAsia and Malaysia Airlines, it had not solved the state’s air connectivity problem.

Tourists preferred shorter travelling times and flights withouts many transit stops, Abang Johari said after launching an AirAsia Airbus A320 plane with the Visit Sarawak Campaign livery at the Kuching International Airport today. 

Abang Johari had, back when he was state tourism minister, first mooted the airline proposal in 2015, a plan that would have involved the Sarawak and Sabah governments buying out Malaysia Airline’s regional carrier, MASwings.

MASwings operates the Rural Air Services in Sabah and Sarawak.

The two state governments had also planned to introduce “point-to-point” routes to Asean cities such as Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh, Jakarta, Bali, Manila and cities in south China, such as Shenzhen.

Abang Johari said even though MAS had been in dire financial straits then, its major shareholder – Khazanah Nasional – had refused to sell the regional carrier over competition fears.

The two governments then abandoned the plan in 2017.

In announcing the scrapping of the plan, Abang Johari had said then that the two governments had negotiated the purchase in good faith with Malaysia Airlines but, despite their best efforts, the deal could not be realised.

“It was our intention to take over MASwings, but since they (MAS) made it so difficult, we’ll just forget about it,” he had said then.

The original proposal would have seen the government owning 50% of the carrier, oriented towards the Southeast Asian tourism market.

As of March last year, MASwings operates 10 ATR72-500s and six short take-off and landing DHC-6-400s on scheduled passenger flights to remote settlements in Sabah and Sarawak.

The bigger ATRs fly to Bandar Seri Begawan in Brunei and Tarakan in Indonesia.

Abang Johari, however, admitted that getting the proposed airline off the ground would not be smooth sailing.

“I would like it (to begin operations) as soon as possible. But we have to clear the hurdles first.”

An aide close to the chief minister said one of the challenges would be acquiring an air operator’s licence from the Transport Ministry.

“Now that Putrajaya is in the hands of the Pakatan Harapan government, we do not know how receptive it will be to our plan.”

Another challenge will be route negotiations.

On the AirAsia A320 plane bearing the Visit Sarawak Campaign livery launched today, Abang Johari said initially, the plan was to have the plan sport it for two years, but the low-cost carrier has agreed to extend this by two years.

The plane livery features a large rhinoceros hornbill as well as the Visit Sarawak Campaign’s logo and tagline, “Sarawak – More to Discover”.

Apart from the plane’s exterior, there are also advertising panels inside the cabin on overhead lockers and meal trays in five other planes, including two of Thailand’s AirAsia A320-200 aircraft.

The panels highlight Sarawak’s many iconic dishes and natural attractions, as well as depict its cultural diversity and interesting festivals.

The plane with the Visit Sarawak livery flies to all regional airports AirAsia serves, including southern China and is estimated to be seen by at least 50 million passengers annually.

Abang Johari said the Visit Sarawak Campaign was aimed at attracting five million tourists to the state by the end of this year, with an estimated revenue of RM8 billion. – February 2, 2019.