Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Sibu Airport can now accommodate Airbus

SIBU - With the lengthening of its runway completed recently, the Sibu Airport can now accommodate bigger aircraft like the Airbus A320 series instead of just the Boeing 737.

The first airbus, an AirAsia flight AK 5260 from Kuala Lumpur with more than 100 passengers and piloted by Captain Fritzland and Captain Hashim, landed there at 9.05 am yesterday.

It returned to Kuala Lumpur with some 170 out of its maximun capacity for 180 passengers about half an hour later.

On hand to welcome the inaugural flight were AirAsia Sibu station manager S.Shanmugamnathan, Sibu Municipal Council deputy chairman Daniel Ngieng Kiong Ann and other invited guests.

Ngieng described the occasion as very historical and important as it ushered in a new era of the town becoming the air travel hub for more than 800,000 people in the state's central zone comprising the Sibu, Kapit, Sarikei and Mukah divisions.

Shanmugamnathan meanwhile told reporters that AirAsia had an overall plan to gradually phase out its Boeing 737 aircraft with the bigger and more economical Airbus.

Source: BERNAMA

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

No point. Now FAX only have Fokker and Twin Otter. No more MAS. Wasted all the money building something useless.