Malaysia Airlines, MABkargo, Firefly and MASwings uphold national obligation

KLIA, 14 April 2020: Malaysia Airlines will be reinstating one time weekly flights to Kota Kinabalu, Kuching and Miri following requests by both state governments beginning this week.

The Kuala Lumpur-Kota Kinabalu-Kuala Lumpur and Kuala Lumpur-Miri-Kuala Lumpur sector will be operated on Thursdays, and on Fridays for the Kuala Lumpur-Kuching-Kuala Lumpur sector.

Its sister airline, MASwings will reinstate services to the Kuching-Sibu-Kuching route, a route it previously serviced under the Public Service Obligation, until it was commercialised and opened to other airlines to operate in January 2019. MASwings will maintain its daily flight schedule on the Miri-Bintulu-Miri and Sibu-Bintulu-Sibu routes.

The crossings between Kuala Lumpur to Sabah and Sarawak will be operated by Malaysia Airlines’ Boeing 737-800 aircraft while the intrastate flights in Sarawak will be operated by the ATR 72.

Speaking on the reinstatements, Group CEO of Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG) Captain Izham Ismail said, “Following the nationwide Movement Control Order by the Government of Malaysia for the period between 18 March to 28 April 2020, all airlines under MAG have had to significantly reduce services across its entire network. However, as the national airline of the country, we continue to serve the nation and our network by maintaining domestic and international connectivity mostly to facilitate essential movements. Our domestic services in Peninsular Malaysia are currently supported by Firefly and Malaysia Airlines continue to mount rescue and repatriation flights worldwide. We also ensure global supply chains are maintained for the most time-sensitive supplies via MABkargo, and we are happy for MASwings to continue connectivity between Kuching and Sibu for the sake of the local community there, besides our usual services.”