Thursday, May 11, 2017

Tourist joyrides in the sky by Sabah Air


KOTA KINABALU: Joyrides in the sky look set to become a tourism industry game-changer for Sabah.

The bird’s eye view tour of the state’s capital and its beautiful hinterland takes in a breathtaking snapshot panorama of Sabah’s scenic landscape and islands in once-in-a-lifetime package flight aboard a modern helicopter.

And taking the first one-hour tour was a group of Chinese company executives enjoying an incentive package. No fewer than 3,000 flew in via China Southern Airlines scheduled flight on a five-day company tour starting this week. But only top management executives were lucky enough to enjoy the trip.

The flights aboard a Bell 206L3 Long Ranger (six-seater) and AS355NP twin engine (five-seater) choppers were rolled out by Sabah Air Aviation Sdn Bhd’s dedicated “Kota Kinabalu City and Islands Sightseeing Tour”.

The flights were divided into three groups starting on May 8 and then on Wednesday (May 10) and today (May 11) with up to 10 personnel aboard for each trip.

The New Sabah Times managed to catch up with the VIP tourists and Sabah Air’s senior personnel and pilot at their terminal in Tanjung Aru here before the flight on Wednesday.

“Although I don’t have the opportunity to talk to them (as the tourists don’t speak English), it is really nice to bring them around. I could see they are very excited about it because this is something new for them to see this kind of scenery,” said Captain Jaimie E Ermitanio as she waited for the VIP passengers to arrive.

She was also involved in flying the first batch of visitors on Monday (May 8) and from the feedback, she noted the tourists were very happy with the itinerary that the travel agents and Sabah Air had arranged.

“If I am not mistaken, they have shared the trip with the other groups and it seems that their friends have insisted to us they also want to take the same route,” said Captain Jaimie from the Philippines.

All the journeys began and ended at the Sabah Air terminal. And during the flight, passengers were taken in a bird’s eye visit of five popular tourism spots.

Continue reading (Incl. Pic) at: Tourist joyrides in the sky by Sabah Air
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