MASwings sees new RAS role

Kota Kinabalu: The state governments of Sabah and Sarawak will have a major say in the new Rural Air Service (RAS) Agreement now being perused by the Transport Ministry with the Malaysian Aviation Commission (MAVCOM), with a view to MASwings' regional expansion of routes to nearby countries for tourism promotion and growth. East Malaysia based MASwings is progressively refurbishing and overhauling its fleet of turbo-prop aircraft as it prepares to win the confidence of domestic route customers as the Rural Air Service Agreement signed with the Federal government expires Sept 30.

It will be extended until Dec 31, after which a new agreement is expected to be signed for another 10 years.

In preparation for the new agreement, MASwings CEO Aminuddin Zakaria (pic) outlined 2017 as a "year of repair" for the East Malaysia subsidiary airline of Malaysia Airlines.

Aminuddin revealed that the name of the agreement would also be changed from RAS to Public Service Obligations (PSO) agreement.

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He said Wednesday that the Ministry approved its ATR72-500 Fleet Improvement Programme (FIP) on Jan. 25, 2017 to reduce by one flight frequency on a daily basis for five selected routes for aircraft maintenance and overhaul.

"We have to improve reputation and win back customer confidence. By focusing on safety and technical reliability.

MASwings aircrafts' interior cabin and seats will be refurbished and the cabin crew uniforms refreshed with new style in line with MASwings' new motto of "Young, Fresh & Speed."

This temporary reduction of RAS schedule 1 frequency started on Feb 20 and would last until Dec 31, 2017 will only be having 8.7 per cent impact on the total MASwings flight frequencies.

This step taken is supported by the Malaysian Aviation Commission (MAVCOM) and the Sabah and Sarawak governments.

Airports like Lahad Datu can only be serviced by ATR72-500, while other routes could be considered by MAVCOM for commercialization in competition with other airlines and non-Malaysian might expect to pay non-subsidised fares.

MAVCOM was established on March 1, 2016 as an independent entity to regulate economic and commercial matters related to civil aviation in Malaysia by advising the Government, administer and manage routes under public service obligations to promote a commercially viable, consumer-oriented and resilient aviation industry which supports the nation's economic growth.

The role of MAVCOM differs from those of the Ministry of Transport (MOT) and the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA). The MOT is responsible for industry policy-making and government-to-government discussions (including to spearhead bilateral or multilateral negotiations on traffic rights), while the DCA regulates technical and safety matters for Malaysia's civil aviation industry.

MASwings is also looking at a system to ensure that only Malaysians enjoy the subsidised fares offered for rural air services (RAS) in east Malaysia.

the new mechanism which the company hoped to introduce sometime in June, would allow the segmentation between Malaysians and international tourists and ensure the latter pay based on commercial pricing.

"There are less than five per cent of foreign tourists on our flights in average but the number is growing.

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"The difficulty is keeping tabs of those buying internally (from inside the country) where they also got the subsidised MASwings rate.

"So we are looking at a system to differentiate (between Malaysians and non-Malaysians)," he said.

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