National carrier Malaysia Airlines yesterday signed a codesharing arrangement with Singapore Airlines (SIA) and SilkAir in a move towards greater cooperation between the national airlines of the two countries.

"Malaysia Airlines, Singapore Airlines and SilkAir have agreed to seek greater commercial cooperation that will enhance their competitiveness and benefit consumers," Malaysia Airlines said in a statement.

Malaysia Airlines said the tripartite codeshare agreement would give travellers wider options and more connectivity when flying between the two countries.

The agreement paves the way for the two national carriers - Malaysia Airlines and Singapore Airlines - and Singapore Airlines' subsidiary SilkAir to pool resources to better position themselves in the rapidly changing aviation industry, it said.

The agreement provides for combined services on routes which would allow the carriers to save money on low-profit destinations amid high fuel prices.

Malaysia Airlines said four Malaysian states - Sabah, Sarawak, Penang and Kedah - were expected to gain significantly from the agreement with higher tourist arrivals as they become more easily accessible.

Exotic destinations

It said Singapore Airlines and SilkAir, which is the regional airline of the Singapore Airlines Group, would start codeshare flights with Malaysia Airlines between Singapore and Kuching, and Singapore and Kota Kinabalu from March 27.

The Singapore - Penang route would be shared between Singapore Airlines and Malaysia Airlines only.

For the SilkAir-operated Singapore-Kuching sector, the codeshare with Malaysia Airlines would start from July 1.

This would be the first time SilkAir will fly to Malaysia.

Meanwhile, SilkAir, said in a statement it will begin flights to Kuching from March 28.

Kuching, which will see four SilkAir flights a week, would be the airline's second destination in Malaysia after the tourist resort island of Langkawi, the carrier said.

SilkAir now flies to 26 "exotic" destinations in Asia normally not served by SIA, which services mainly capital cities.