Maiden MyAirline flight to Kota Kinabalu
Published on: Friday, December 02, 2022
By: Jonathan Nicholas
Noredah presenting a souvenir to Abdul Hamid.
Kota Kinabalu: Newest low-cost carrier MyAirline made its maiden flight to Kota Kinabalu from Kuala Lumpur with 160 passengers, Thursday.The Airbus A320-200 in red and grey livery was given a water salute prior to docking.
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Another 174 KL-bound passengers were waiting for their turn.
They were among those who had secured seats for as low as RM118 during the introductory offer period.
MyAirline Director Dato’ Abdul Hamid Mohd Ali said the airline would strive to provide competitive pricing as the country’s third low-cost airline.
He said MyAirlines would maintain the low-cost name, offering travellers a choice.
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“Fuel costs are rising but at least the foreign exchange market is doing better. The lease rates we got for the aircraft from Europe, America and a few from AirAsia are good.
“The airline business is still a solid start-up even in the current economy. Rising fuel costs affects every airline but MyAirline doesn’t have financial burdens whatsoever compared to existing airlines.
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“We don’t have any debt service, so we can focus on giving the best service to our customers,” he said, adding dedicated service would give them the edge.
Abdul Hamid said the airline is currently providing Sabah two daily flights and frequency would increase by end of the month.
“Today MyAirlines has 180 scheduled flights all over the country. We are looking at domestic travel and aiming for regionals by first quarter of 2023.
“Just five days of going on sale on Oct 26, we generated almost full bookings. Tourism is making a comeback and people are eager to get out.
“Our flights from Kuala Lumpur are to Langkawi, Kuching and Kota Kinabalu, which is a hit. With this, I believe Malaysian airports need upgrading, too, because they are getting congested. Otherwise we cannot cope with growth,” he said.
STB (Sabah Tourism Board) CEC Noredah Othman said there are 345 domestic and 47 international flights into Sabah on a weekly basis.
“MyAirlines gives a chance for everyone to travel to Sabah which has the second busiest airport after the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
“KKIA has reached slightly over a million domestic arrivals in October this year,” she said.
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