Kota Kinabalu: SilkAir will operate two additional flights between Singapore and here next month to bring the frequency to four times a week.
The addition comes just two months after introducing its twice-weekly direct service on Mondays and Fridays.
The additional flights on Wednesdays and Sundays would offer customers in Singapore and Sabah more seats, flexibility in planning their travels and also enhance onward connection possibilities on the Singapore Airlines (SIA) Group's global network.
The airline plans to introduce a fifth service from June onwards. The services will be code-shared with SIA and Malaysia Airlines.
SilkAir's inaugural service to Kota Kinabalu was launched with much fanfare on Dec. 12 last year.
"The interest in our flights has been positively overwhelming. We are not surprised, given Sabah's well-deserved reputation as one of the region's most richly exciting destinations," said Mike Barclay, SilkAir's Chief Executive in a statement, Thursday.
"The additional services are reflective of our confidence and commitment to growing demand for travel to Sabah, not just from Singapore but also from points beyond Singapore," he said, referring to potential visitors from the many points in the combined SilkAir-SIA network of 92 international destinations.
Operating schedules for the additional frequencies are pending regulatory approvals and would be announced later.
Meanwhile, for the third quarter ending Dec. 31, last year, SilkAir flew 360,032 customers, its highest record for any quarter, up 18.8 per cent over the same period last year.
December last year was the obvious topper with 134,173 passengers, its highest ever monthly uplift since it took to the skies in 1989.
This represented a growth of 21.4 per cent over December 2004, which was itself a record month last year.
For the nine months to December 2005, passenger numbers increased by 11.7 per cent against the same period in 2004.
"Our growth in passenger numbers this year is in line with our network expansion," said Barclay.
"We launched three new destinations in the October to December quarter and we now serve 26 destinations across ten countries in Asia.
"We are all set to carry more passengers this financial year than ever before."
SilkAir closed the last fiscal year (2004/2005) with an uplift of 1,089,190 customers. Cumulatively, more than 900,000 customers have flown with SilkAir in the first nine months of fiscal year 2005/2006.
SilkAir carried almost 20 per cent more customers in its Business Class from April to December 2005.
"This is another very positive indicator that the investments we have made to further improve on our Business Class product and service delivery is bearing fruit," he said.
"Our dual class offering of a Business Class and a full service Economy Class has helped differentiate and strengthen our brand across the region."
Source: Daily Express
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