MASWINGS has backed down from its plan to hike fares from November 1 for foreigners on rural routes in Sarawak, said Sarawak Transport Minister Lee Kim Shin.

He said MASWing’s chief executive officer Aminuddin Zakaria, in a text message to him last night, said the airline will not impose the new fares, which has been criticised by the state’s tourism sector as “killing the industry”.

Lee said MASWings – a unit of Malaysia Airline – will issue a circular this Friday advising its ticket and travel agents that it is retracting the fare circular it had issued last Friday.

“We will continue the fare as before,” Lee said, reading out Aminuddin’s WhatsApp message during a press conference after a working visit to the Sarawak Energy hydrogen production plant and refuelling station in Pending.

Bario homestay providers feared for their livelihood upon learning that a roundtrip plane ticket from Miri would cost a foreigner RM1,037.

The new fare for a Malaysian was supposed to be RM946.

Philip Raja, president of Rurum Kelabit – the association that represents the community – had reportedly said the new airfare “will choke and suffocate” the homestay providers.

The settlement is made up of about a dozen villages 1,000m above sea level. 

The cool climate, scenic beauty and laid back lifestyle have made it popular among foreign backpacking eco-tourists.

The only way to get to the settlement, some 178km from Miri, is by one of the regular flights between Bario, Miri and Marudi.

MASwings operates two flights daily between Miri and Bario, with flights reportedly always full and seats have to be bought in advance.

While Marudi assemblyman Penguang Manggil said the much criticised fare hike for foreigners would “not be good for the tourism industry” in Baram, a plan is already in place for an alternative route to reach the state’s other, and more popular tourist spot, the Mulu national park.

“Already we are handicapped by the connectivity. If they impose this (new fare), we would be in more deep trouble,” he said today.

Manggil, who is also the state’s assistant minister for housing and local government, said the state has already embarked on the road from the riverine town of Baram to the park “to make sure that the tourism industry is not affected (by steep air fare hike) in future”.

He said work had started on the first 8km of the road from Marudi to Long Lenei, costing RM43 million, had started.

From Long Lenei, the next phase of construction will take the road to Long Terawan and from there eventually to Nanga Melinau, just outside the park.

“We have no intention to build the road direct to the national park,” Manggil said on the need to preserve the forests of the Unesco world heritage site.

From Nanga Malinau, travellers to the park will have to complete their journey with a 20-minute ride by boat.

Bandar Kuching MP Kelvin Yii had said the drastic increase was due to the increasing cost of subsidy that the federal government had to fork out MASWings.

Yii said he was informed by Transport Minister Anthony Loke that the subsidy currently is more than RM 200 million annually.

He said the MASWings’ decision to reduce the subsidy was to target foreigners “to benefit local Malaysians especially those from rural areas”. – October 23, 2019.