(AFP) - Russia's Aeroflot has become the fifth foreign carrier to halt services to Malaysia's main international airport since it opened in June 1998, officials said today.

Aeroflot's twice-weekly services to Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) stopped at the end of March, the airline's local cargo manager Zainal Abidin told national news agency Bernama .

Aeroflot officials could not be reached for comment. Officials at the airport confirmed the carrier had stopped its services.

Japan's All Nippon Airways, British Airways, Qantas and Lufthansa have also stopped flying to the futuristic KLIA, dealing a blow to efforts to promote it as a regional aviation hub.

Zainal, quoted by Bernama , blamed consistently low yields in the last three years.

Aeroflot had been flying from Moscow to Kuala Lumpur via Singapore using Ilyushin IL-96 aircraft with passenger capacity of just over 200 and cargo space of about eight tonnes.

It started flying to Malaysia 27 years ago.

Zainal said the flights to Singapore would continue.

He said Aeroflot plans to re-route flights from Moscow to Kuala Lumpur via New Delhi or Calcutta, depending on whether Malaysian authorities would waive royalties when allowing it to exercise fifth-freedom rights.

Loss to Singapore

Walter Culas, chairman of the Airfreight Forwarders Association of Malaysia, described the suspension of the Aeroflot services as Malaysia's loss to Singapore.

He said Aeroflot's cargo rates had been very competitive and urged the government's National Economic Action Council (NEAC) to investigate why several foreign carriers had withdrawn.

On April 20 the government announced major cuts in charges to increase business at the RM9 billion ringgit airport, sited 50km south of Kuala Lumpur.

It said new passenger flights would be excused landing and parking charges for one year, as would extra flights by airlines which already serve KLIA.

Flights must be at least 25 percent full to qualify.

The NEAC said Monday the airport would speed up baggage handling and sort out taxi woes as part of attempts to become a regional hub.