Buoyed by the successful first phase of its direct international flights to Tarakan and Pontianak in Indonesia and Brunei Darulsalam, MASwings will embark on its second phase of international

route expansion by the end of October this year.

In announcing this, its chief executive officer Captain Nawawi Awang said the new MASwings' international air service would cover the routes of Kuching-Balikpapan (Indonesia), and Kota Kinabalu-Puerto Princesa, Palawan (Phillippines).

MASwings, a fully-owned subsidiary of Malaysia Airlines, plans to operate the routes three times a week.

“We are still in the process of getting approval and clearance from the relevant authorities (in the Philippines), and if everything goes well, we are targetting to commence operations of the Kota Kinabalu-Puerto Princesa sector by end October.

“This is going to be our first service on the Philippines’ shore. We in MASwings hope to become a bridge, in terms of air connectivity, for the people within the BIMP-EAGA (Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines-East Asean Growth Area) member countries,” he told reporters in Kota Kinabalu today.

He opined that easy connectivity and mobility would result in increased trade and tourism and more investments.

Nawawi also announced that the three-times weekly Tawau-Tarakan flights would start operating daily from July 1.

He said the average passenger load for the Tawau-Tarakan, Kuching-Pontianak, Kuching-Brunei and Kota Kinabalu-Brunei sectors stood at between 60 and 65 percent.

“We are now looking at adjusting our flight schedule to mount the daily service,” he said, adding that MASwings had 10 aircraft servicing Sabah and Sarawak.

Nawawi said there was also a huge potential for chartered flight services connecting Sabah, Davao (Philippines) and Manado (Indonesia) because of the availability of world-class diving spots in the waters of these areas.

“This is something that we are going to explore in future.”

- Bernama