YB hails MAS for revising schedule

KOTA KINABALU : Elopura Assemblyman Au Kam Wah has hailed the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) move to finally reinstate and to increase the flights to Sandakan,Tawau and Kudat,describing it as good news for the development of east coast region and the tourism industry of Sandakan especially.

The revised flight schedule will take effect October 1.

In a statement issued in Sandakan on Thursday,Au who is also the Deputy Chairman of Sandakan Tourism Development Committee noted that the said move was confirmed by the Area Manager of MAS Sandakan when contacted recently.

Under the revised flight schedule,MAS will recommence its flight to Sandakan and Tawau with one flight daily and will increase it to two flights daily starting from October 28.

For Sandakan-Kudat,there will be a flight daily on Monday,Thursday and Saturday.

And for the Sandakan-Kota Kinabalu,there will be an additional daily flight (FOKKER) at 7.15pm and another one at 12.55pm starting from October 28,thus increasing the number of flights from 4 flights daily to 6 flights daily.

MAS also revealed that the number of passengers (to and from) too is expected to increase from 7,200 passengers per week to 8,024 passengers.

Au who is also the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) Youth Chief hoped MAS could strive to maintain the number of flights to the east coast region,Sandakan especially,in order to provide a greater convenience to the public including the business travellers and tourists alike.

He noted that the temporary setback in the flight schedule to the east coast region experienced in the past few months had not only caused a great inconvenience to the public,but also lost of valuable time and money.

It had also adversely affected the tourism industry of Sandakan,he added.

he reiterated that an adequate and efficient flight service is both prerequisite and essential towards ensuring a continuous,smooth and dynamic development in a vast and mountainous State like Sabah