Friday, October 22, 2010

Proposal to revive Miri-Singapore flights

THE Miri business community has urged the state to revive direct flights from Singapore to this northern-most city and not just engage in rhetoric.

“We have been waiting for this direct flight. In fact, the withdrawal of Air Asia’s direct flight on this route has seriously affected our businesses, particularly in tourism sectors like hotels, resorts and golf courses,” said prominent businessman Tan Sri Jimmy Lau.

“We have heard of talks on the proposed revival of the direct flight (Miri-Singapore) between Air Asia and our government for quite some time now. We prefer to see it materialise. Not just talk,” he said.

Lau, who is also Foochow Associations of Malaysia president, said the group welcomed state efforts in getting Singapore-based airlines to fly to Kuching, which will complement the just-launched Sarawak Integrated Packages (SIP) aimed at luring more Singaporean tourists to the state.

He was asked to comment on news reports quoting Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr George Chan as saying in Singapore yesterday that AirAsia had agreed to re-instate the Singapore-Miri route while Malaysia Airlines (MAS) would start flying the Singapore-Miri route soon.

According to Dr Chan, AirAsia chief executive officer Datuk Tony Fernandez has agreed verbally to revive the Singapore-Miri flight.

Dr Chan, who is also Tourism and Heritage Development Minister, was in Singapore to launch the SIP introduced by Sarawak Tourism Board.

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