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SDMC is regulating flights to the state to ensure that there are enough quarantine rooms. – Photo by Bernama
KUCHING (January 4): The State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) has urged airlines to adhere to their approved flight schedule after the cancellation of an AirAsia flight from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, to Sibu to eleven o’clock yesterday caused an uproar on social media.
It said in a statement today that it had posted and contacted all airlines on approved scheduled flights entering Sarawak through the state’s Ministry of Transportation on December 23, 2020.
“The approved flight schedule was arranged to allow SDMC to prepare and allocate enough quarantine rooms for those arriving in Sarawak.
“It is regrettable that AirAsia has not followed the approved flight schedule provided and has gone ahead with the decision to allow the additional flight to enter Sarawak via Sibu from Kota Kinabalu via flight AK6090 on January 3,” he told address public dissatisfaction on social media due to the cancellation of said flight.
SDMC said it has disassociated itself from AirAsia’s non-compliance with the flight that was canceled.
“The committee seeks the cooperation of all airlines to comply with the approved scheduled flight issued by SDMC through the Sarawak Ministry of Transport from time to time.
“To stop the Covid-19 pandemic and protect everyone from the spread, everyone’s support is required,” he emphasized.
SDMC had previously published the flight times and frequency of the approved airlines for public reference. The schedule is as follows:
For flights arriving in the state, Malaysia Airlines has been approved to operate a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Kuching at 4 pm arrival time every day except Tuesday.
The approved flight time for AirAsia departing from Kuala Lumpur to Kuching is 2pm arrival time every day except Tuesdays.
AirAsia flights from Kota Kinabalu to Kuching are scheduled to arrive at 12pm every day except Thursdays.
AirAsia flights traveling from Johor Bahru to Kuching have been set to arrive at 10am only on Sundays, while AirAsia flights from Penang to Kuching will arrive every Thursday at 6pm arrival time and arriving flights from Kota Bharu will land every Tuesday at 2pm
Malindo Air flights have also been approved to arrive in Kuching from Kuala Lumpur at 10am every day except Sunday. Scoot has been allowed to operate a flight from Singapore and Kuching every Sunday at 7pm.
Regarding flights arriving in Miri, SDMC has stated that Malaysia Airlines is allowed to operate flights departing from Kuala Lumpur and arriving in Miri at 12.30pm every Saturday, Sunday and Thursday.
AirAsia flights arriving in Miri from Kuala Lumpur are scheduled to arrive every Saturday at 4 pm, Sunday (5 pm), Monday (5:30 pm), Tuesday (4 pm), Wednesday (5:30 pm) , Thursday (4 pm) and Friday (5:30 pm).
AirAsia flights flying from Kota Kinabalu to Miri have been set at 2pm arrival time every day and a flight has also been approved to arrive from Johor Bahru to Miri every Saturday at 6pm
A MASwings flight is scheduled to arrive in Miri from Labuan at 9am every Thursday.
For flights flying to Sibu, Malaysia Airlines flights have been approved by SDMC to arrive in Sibu from Kuala Lumpur at 11am. M. Every Sunday and Thursday.
AirAsia, meanwhile, has been approved to operate flights from Kuala Lumpur to arrive in Sibu at 11am every Saturday and Tuesday and also a Johor Bahru flight arrives at 2pm every Saturday.
For Bintulu, SDMC has allowed Malaysia Airlines flights to arrive in the city from Kuala Lumpur at 11.30am every Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday. AirAsia flights, on the other hand, are scheduled to arrive from Kuala Lumpur at 1pm every day.
Lastly, MASwings has been approved to operate a flight from Kota Kinablu to Limbang at 4.30pm arrival time every Sunday.
All scheduled arrival time is estimated.
Some netizens had expressed their dissatisfaction with AirAsia and SDMC on social media yesterday after the cancellation of flight AK6090.
One Facebook user, among others, rebuked the low-cost airline saying: “Kalau nak CANCEL FLIGHT, cancel semua flight pun xpa. TAPI JANGANLAH KAU CANCEL 30 MINIT SEBELUM BERLEPAS !!! ”(If you want to cancel flights, it’s okay to cancel all flights. But don’t cancel 30 minutes before departure!).
AirAsia declined to comment on the matter when contacted.
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