Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Kota Kinabalu - MAS Eastern Hub

KOTA KINABALU: Malaysia Airlines (MAS) is making Kota Kinabalu its Eastern hub, leveraging on the geographical advantages of the city as an ideal gateway for passengers traveling between major international destinations.

Announcing the major undertaking yesterday, the national carrier said the hub will be developed over three stages beginning Nov 15 this year until June 3, 2011, involving introduction of new increased frequencies of international flights.

Under the plan, MAS has also committed to position six planes, including two latest Boeing 737-800 aircraft, at Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) along with 150 technicians and 250 cabin crew.

MAS managing director and chief executive officer, Tengku Azmil Zahruddin when making the announcement yesterday, said the decision was driven by the increase in demand from countries such as China, Taiwan, North Asia, Indonesia and Australia.

“We picked Kota Kinabalu to leverage on the strategic location of the city as an ideal gateway to promote travels between the markets mentioned.

“This is the right time to develop the (eastern) hub with the upturn of this industry in Asia. It provides us opportunity for growth in yield, load factor and destinations -we expect a potential improvement of between RM60 million and RM100 million per annum to our bottom line as a result,” he told a press conference here, yesterday.

Tengku Azmil said the setting up of Kota Kinabalu as the Eastern hub will enable the national carrier to provide customers with better flight schedules and connectivity as they would not need to rely on flights from Kuala Lumpur.

Continue reading (Incl. Pic) at: Kota Kinabalu - MAS Eastern Hub
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