by Joachim Fischer, Phnom penh
Malaysia Airlines’ newly-launched Kota Kinabalu-Perth route is expected to boost tourist arrivals to Sabah in line with the airline’s commitment to develop Kota Kinabalu as its eastern hub. The Australian city is the second international destination introduced after Haneda (Tokyo) in November, since the airlines launched its eastern hub last October. The national carrier mounted the inaugural flight to Perth on January 15 at 7pm, and the return flight to Kota Kinabalu arrived at 7.55am next day.
Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun, who was among the passengers arriving on the return flight, told reporters at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) that the new route was a very important milestone to promote the country’’s tourism, especially in Sabah. He said Sabahans were among the largest group of foreign communities in Perth, estimated to be around 20,000 people, and that the new route would cater to them as well as Australians coming to Sabah.
Asked whether Malaysia Airlines was considering other routes from Kota Kinabalu, Dr Munir said for now the priority was to work on the existing routes to ensure high passenger load. “If that improves, the next step would be increasing the frequency of the flights. Obviously we will look at introducing other routes … but before we go to the next stage, we want to make sure the routes we are doing now, work,” he said.
Malaysia Airlines managing director cum chief executive officer Tengku Datuk Seri Azmil Zahruddin Raja Abdul Aziz added that besides Haneda and Perth, the airlines was already providing several international routes direct from Kota Kinabalu such as to Osaka, Seoul, Hong Kong and Taipei.
One of the best Hotel and Resort in Malaysia, the Sutera Harbour Resort in Kota Kinabalu, is only 5 km by car from the airport but it is so large and green that the tourist have a nice and quite stay in the resort. They can join one of the 14 restaurants and a short boatride to the Island of Manukan in the Nationalpark. The Hotels in Sutera Harbour are surrounded by an international Golfcourse with 27-whole. So it is possible that a traveler can use the Golfcourse between two flights.
