East Malaysian newspaper Daily Express reports today that MASwings, a subsidiary of Malaysia Airlines that serves as a carrier for rural routes across Borneo, has been “empty routes” four times per day between Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan.
Flown using an ATR5000 model plane, with a capacity of 60 passengers, the plane takes off from its hub in Kota Kinabalu International Airport every morning, en route to Sandakan, carrying with it no passengers, only crew and technicians.
From Sandakan, the same plane will service passengers flying between the city and the rural outpost of Tawau, only to return to Sandakan, and make the trip back to KK, again completely empty of paying passengers.
Now, East Malaysians that have caught wind of MASwings’ ferry flight arrangements are questioning the cost and efficiency of flying a completely empty plane, save for crew members, one hour every day, back and forth, four times daily. Potentially being able to serve 240 passengers, each spending approximately RM200 (US$50) per ticket, passengers wondered why the airline was so eager to burn fuel, so to speak.
It’s “stupid,” said one individual that Daily Express spoke to.
“On the one hand they (new government) keep saying they want to cut costs. I want the new Transport Minister and Finance Minister to explain why they are allowing taxpayer monies and resources to be wasted this way.”
“I find it absurd because the plane was there at the airport but with not a single passenger when it took off to Sandakan,” they said.
Asked for comment, MASwings confirmed passenger reports, but tried to shift the onus, explaining that since January 1, the new Public Service Obligations (PSO) 2019 Agreement has been in effect, regulating who flies what and where in rural Sabah and Sarawak.
One of the flight MASwings is no longer authorized to operate commercially is KK to Sandakan, and vice versa. In total, eight of the airline’s routes were dissolved, meaning that they need to ferry planes from one airport to another, where they still operate a route. Both Air Asia and MAS service these former MASwings flights.
Sound messy? It is.
Sound wasteful? Yep.
Awaiting an explanation from our Transport Ministry? Us too.
