Sarawak Welcomes Back Malaysia Airlines Direct Flight From Penang To Kuching

By Anthony Tan
VIRGIN Communications 
email: anthonykhtan@yahoo.co.uk

2 December 2021 will go into the historical records on Malaysia Airlines’ resumption of its direct flight from Penang to Kuching. Before this, business and leisure travellers have to transit at KL International Airport for their connections to Sarawak’s capital city.

The Penang-Kuching flight operates twice weekly with average fare at RM209 one way. The national carrier is using Boeing 737-800 which offers 16 Business Class and 144 Economy Class seats.

MH2721 flight, carrying 140 passengers, touched down at Kuching International Airport at about 9.50 am and was a given the traditional water cannon salute by two fire water trucks from Malaysia Airports’ Fire Department to celebrate the occasion. 

The passengers were welcomed by the Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture (MTAC) Sarawak Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah; its Permanent Secretary and Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) Deputy Chairman Hii Chang Kee; STB Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sharzede Datu Salleh Askor; Malaysia Airlines Head of Sales Roslan Ismail and Maswings Chief Operating Officer Captain Nasaruddin A Bakar. 

A Sarawak cultural performance troupe was also part of the welcome delegation

Abdul Karim, in his welcoming speech, said, “Sarawak is nestled on the beautiful island of Borneo, separated from the Peninsular Malaysia by the South China Sea. One of the ways in and out of the island is by air connectivity. 

Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture (MTAC)
 Sarawak Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah

“It is so good to see we are now connected via Malaysia Airlines to another beautiful island, Penang. With travel restrictions easing up in Sarawak, the state is looking forward to more new direct routes and increased frequency of direct flights from Malaysia’s other hubs such as Kuala Lumpur, Johor and Kota Kinabalu as well as greater collaboration with the national carrier.

“Passengers’ safety will always be our main priority with stringent standard operating procedures enforced so that they will have peace of mind while travelling to Sarawak.

“Fully vaccinated domestic travellers from all states in Malaysia need not quarantine upon arrival to Sarawak and no PCR or RTK Covid-19 tests are needed prior to departure. 

“The only requirement needed is the application for ‘Enter Sarawak’ for non-Sarawakians and filling in the e-Health declaration form,” he added.

Sharzede quipped, “We are heartened to welcome passengers from Penang to Sarawak. A unique plethora of culture, adventure, nature, food, and festivals, we are certain travellers from Penang will enjoy the many offerings of Sarawak.”

“We extend our appreciation to MTAC Sarawak and Malaysian Airlines for the addition of this new route and look forward to welcoming more visitors from Penang during the upcoming holiday season.

“We will continue creating meaningful experience for our travellers whilst spearheading responsible tourism initiatives as we believe it will contribute to the wellbeing of our local communities and the environment.”

Malaysia Aviation Group CEO Captain Izham Ismail remarked, “Malaysia Airlines is honoured to recommence operations between these two key domestic sectors, Penang and Sarawak. As national carrier of the country, we play a unique role in stimulating the travel and tourism industry. 

“This move is very timely as air travel gradually picks up domestically and we are ready to serve business or leisure travellers with the connectivity they need.

“Our sister company MASwings is also supporting with increased operations from Kuching to Miri with 12 times weekly flights effective 1 December 2021, signifying our commitment to provide better air connectivity within Malaysia and into the rural areas of Borneo.” 

KL International Airport Wins Double Awards At Routes Asia 2018

By Anthony Tan

VIRGIN Communications  

email: anthonykhtan@yahoo.co.uk

 

Overall Winner: KL International Airport

Malaysia Airports’ significant contribution to the growth of the Malaysian aviation industry was acknowledged when KL International Airport (KLIA) received the prestigious Routes Asia 2018 Marketing Awards for the Overall Winner and Over 20 Million Passengers categories, beating other hubs in the region.

The Marketing Awards was held conjunction with Route Development Forum Asia 2018 or Routes Asia in short, which was held in Brisbane, Australia on 19 March, is regarded as prestigious in the aviation industry because of its unbiased judging by the participating airlines planning community that gives its vote. 

Business In Session

Thanks to these airlines recognise the outstanding marketing services that have supported the launch of new air routes or the development of existing services, KLIA emerged the proud winner of two awards.

Despite the global challenging economic landscape in 2017, KLIA showed an impressive scorecard, securing nine new passenger airlines that flew to Malaysia’s capital city and launching 25 new routes.

Overall, passenger traffic grew by 11.2% to 58.5 million, with the hub recording an additional 30,535 commercial aircraft movements to contribute to a total of 386,054 movements last year.



Mohamed Sallauddin,

General Manager of Airline Marketing

Mohamed Sallauddin, Malaysia Airports general manager of airline marketing, considers this a “fantastic achievement and tremendous recognition of the success we have achieved so far”.

He adds, “Over the past two years we have reimagined how we work with airlines and this rewards the effort the team has made.

“We have come up with a series of coherent programmes for our carriers and the international ones we are pursuing. We will continue to work hard with the aim of hopefully winning an award at World Routes in Guangzhou.”

Before leaving for this event, Sallauddin had tipped MICE Malaysia Beyond that the last time KLIA won Routes Asia Marketing Awards was in 2009 under the Southeast Asia category. In that year, Singapore Changi Airport came in as “Highly Commended”. 

Destination Category: Highly commended - Japan National Tourism Organisation 

We were certainly happy for Sallauddin when he received the two awards this year. On hearing the news, Malaysia Airports managing director Datuk Badlisham Ghazali was overjoyed with KLIA’s two wins at this highly regarded regional heat of Routes Asia 2018 Marketing Awards.  

Malaysia Airports managing director
Datuk Badlisham Ghazali

We met him recently at the ground-breaking ceremony of Senior Aerospace Upeca facility at Subang Aerotech Park prior to the awards, Badlisham told MICE Malaysia Beyond that Malaysia Airports had put in a lot of hard work into positioning KLIA as a regional hub to be reckoned with.

When we met him recently at the ground-breaking ceremony of Senior Aerospace Upeca facility at Subang Aerotech Park prior to the awards, Badlisham told MICE Malaysia Beyond that Malaysia Airports had put in a lot of hard work into positioning KLIA as a regional hub to be reckoned with.

As can be seen, the airport operator has been innovative in coming out with its airline marketing strategies to promote the desired destinations. Its collaboration with Tourism Malaysia last year in the Joint International Tourism Development Programme saw the two matching the investments made by the airlines, trade and business partners in marketing campaigns that drive inbound tourism.

Malaysia Airports also undertook several missions to Europe, ASEAN, South Asia, India and China to meet up with over 30 airlines at their headquarters to market KLIA as a fast-growing hub besides participating in major travel trade shows to discuss with travel agents and airlines to bring in more charter flights into Malaysia.

As aptly put by Steven Small, brand director of Routes, “The results that KLIA achieved in 2017 speak for themselves. The relationships that they have fostered with their airline and tourism partners, showcase how a collaborative approach delivers remarkable growth.”

As the overall winner, KLIA will be automatically shortlisted for the World Routes Marketing Awards in Guangzhou on 17 September.

Here’s the full list of Routes Asia 2018 Marketing Awards:

Overall Winner: Kuala Lumpur International Airport

Over 20 million passengers

_{Winner: Kuala Lumpur International Airport}

Highly commended: Singapore Changi Airport 

4 – 20 million passengers

Winner: Adelaide Airport
Highly commended: Auckland Airport

Under 4 million passengers

Winner: Vladivostok International Airport

Highly commended: Townsville Airport

Destination

Winner: Cook Islands Tourism Corporation

Highly commended: Japan National Tourism Organization 

The news is out! Routes Asia 2019 will be held in Cebu, Philippines from 10-12 March.


Over To You Cebu - ROUTES ASIA 2019

*   Note: Pictures taken from Route Asia 2018 Supplies