National carrier Malaysia Airlines today announced it has revamped its international flight schedule as fears waned over the SARS outbreak.

It is adding five new routes, including two new Indonesian destinations, Balikpapan and Manado, it said in a statement.

The airline also added frequencies on seven existing routes and reinstated services on eight routes to "match actual passenger demand."

"Leading factors in the revision are the successful initiative of the health authorities in addressing the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome outbreak, increasing passenger load and the enthusiastic response of customers towards the various air travel recovery measures implemented by airlines and airports," it said.

Flights trimmed

The additional frequencies are for flights from Kuala Lumpur to Manchester, Auckland, Adelaide, Perth and Ho Chin Minh City; from Kota Kinabalu to Tarakan; and from Medan to Penang.

The reinstated frequencies include flights from Kuala Lumpur to Hong Kong and other destinations in China and Taipei.

At the same time, Malaysia Airlines cut frequencies from Kuala Lumpur to Los Angeles via Taipei, as well as to Paris, Medan, Seoul and Bangkok.

The airline also radically trimmed the number of its flights to Singapore from 49 a week to 28.

Better occupancy rates

Meanwhile, the finance ministry said occupancy rates at hotels around the country had picked up.

Hashim Ismail, ministry parliamentary secretary said the average hotel occupancy rate had increased from 43 percent in May to 51 percent as of June

"Hotel operators can now breathe easier as demand for hotel rooms has gone up," Hashim was quoted as saying by the Bernama news agency.

Malaysia has listed only five probable Sars cases, including two deaths, but its economy was badly hit by the Sars outbreak in the region. - AFP