\n<\/p>\n
SEPANG \u2013 Direct flights between Sarawak and Singapore, priced below RM400 (S$126), will soon be available through the newly launched AirBorneo, said Sarawak Premier Abang Johari Openg.<\/p>\n
In a press conference at Kuala Lumpur International Airport Terminal One, the Premier said the airline is scheduled to add the route on July 22 in conjunction with Hari Sarawak (Sarawak Day), with other international stops already planned out.<\/p>\n
\u201cGod willing, on July 22, we will be flying for the first time from Kuching to Singapore.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd perhaps not too long after that, AirBorneo will fly to Jakarta. We already have the allocation at the airport there,\u201d he said when launching the airline\u2019s inaugural flight from Kuala Lumpur to Kuching on July 20.<\/p>\n
He added that AirBorneo would keep fares as controlled as possible despite fluctuations in global jet fuel prices as it operates on a \u201cdifferent business model\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe treat this airline as an air bridge. There will be some government contribution for fixed costs, but operating costs will be on a commercial basis.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are a lot of investments coming into Sarawak, mainly in green energy and the semiconductor industries, and there must be a bridge for the corporate sector to fly in and out of the state.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn other words, (AirBorneo\u2019s) business model is different from others. It is the \u2018Sarawak model\u2019 which we will treat as an investment to grow and strengthen our economic activities,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
Abang Johari also said the state is looking at Dubai as an example for its long-term plans to become an aviation hub within and beyond the region.<\/p>\n
\u201cDubai in the 70s was only a transit point, unlike the Dubai of today.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen, they created the Emirates (airline) and offered very competitive fares. \u2018Cross subsidies\u2019 between Emirates and the government allowed Dubai to expand.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe we can do the same thing,\u201d he said. THE STAR\/ASIA NEWS NETWORK<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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SEPANG \u2013 Direct flights between Sarawak and Singapore, priced below RM400 (S$126), will soon be available through the newly launched AirBorneo, said Sarawak Premier Abang…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":70321,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=70320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/70321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=70320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=70320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=70320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}