Pemuda PBB Padungan memandang serius tindakan pihak pengurusan baru MAS dibawah kepimpinan Tan Sri Tony Fernandes yang dilihat akan mendatangkan kesan yang buruk ke atas industri pelancongan Sarawak.
Keputusan untuk membatalkan jumlah penerbangan FireFly ke Sarawak seperti yang dilaporkan oleh sebuah akhbar Inggeris baru-baru ini amat membimbangkan.
Atas sebab itulah Pemuda PBB Padungan telah melancarkan kempen "Kami bantah tindakan batal penerbangan Firefly ke Sarawak" di alam maya melalui Facebook untuk menggesa pengurusan baru MAS dibawah kepimpinan Tan Sri Tony Fernandes agar berhenti terlebih dahulu dari membuat sebarang perubahan ke atas rangkaian penerbangan FireFly ke Sarawak sehingga jalan penyelesaian telah dicapai diantara MAS dan rakyat Sarawak.
Pemuda PBB Padungan amat berharap rakyat Sarawak tanpa mengira ideologi politik menyokong sepenuhnya kempen alam maya ini demi kebaikan negeri Sarawak yang tercinta ini.
Sekian. Terimakasih.
Ir. Haidel Heli
Ketua Pemuda PBB Padungan
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By YU JI yuji@thestar.com.my
KUCHING: Firefly, the two-year-old affordable wing of Malaysia Airlines (MAS), has cancelled its second route between Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia, with more cancellations likely.
The airline has ceased to sell Kuching-Kuala Lumpur tickets for flights after Oct 31 on its website, and tour agents are aware of the cancellation.
Firefly’s Kuching ticketing office yesterday told The Star, ticket holders for flights beginning Nov 1 “will most likely be put onboard MAS”.
“That is most probably what will happen.
“That is what we are telling ticket holders for now. We are not sure of anything at this point.
“A new (flight) schedule has not been released,” said the ticketing office personnel, who declined to be named as he was not authoritised to speak on the matter.
The Kuching-Kuala Lumpur cancellation comes after Kuching-Johor was cancelled on Sept 15.
Firefly was flying three routes between Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia (and with high frequency) around mid year.
The only Firefly route left for Sarawak is between Sibu-Kuala Lumpur.
Firefly’s website is still selling tickets for those flights.
However, a well-placed source within MAS’ Sarawak management told The Star yesterday that Firefly’s online ticket sales “should not be considered as an indicator of flight availability”.
“My staff and I have been told to wait for an internal announcement (that will come) by the end of this week,” the senior staff said. “We think it will be regarding the route rationalisation. Stage by stage the Firefly flights are taken off one sector at a time.”
The Malaysian aviation industry is undergoing its most extensive flight rationalisation exercise in recent weeks. This follows the surprise announcement of a MAS-AirAsia shareswap deal in August.
Since then, it has been an open secret that Firefly’s jet aircraft routes would be scrapped. Media reports have said it was not a matter of “if” but “when”.
Sarawak Tourism Federation president Audry Wan Ullok, when asked about this yesterday, said talk was that Firefly would cease all jet aircraft routes by November.
She said the deal to end such a large portion of Firefly’s operations – this is according to her sources in the state Tourism and Heritage Ministry – was brokered and finalised over the recent Hari Raya.
Audry’s predecessor Datuk Wee Hong Seng, who still heads the Malaysia Tourism Council at a sub- Asean association, said the same. State authorities The Star tried to contact yesterday, including the Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) and the ministry, refused to comment on the matter.
Nonetheless, since a month ago, STB chief executive Datuk Rashid Khan – who was MAS commercial director during Datuk Seri Idris Jala’s tenure and still has close ties with the national air carrier – has publicly said that under the shareswap deal “eventually something will have to give in”.
Separately, the Tourism and Heritage Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg is said to have told private sector members that the shareswap, “would see the death of Firefly”.
Efforts to get Firefly to reply to media enquiries have been difficult. In September, its public relations officer wrote to The Star saying announcements on flight rationalisation could only be issued by parent company MAS.
Firefly’s flights to Sarawak have been the first to be axed. When the Kuching-Johor route was ended, ticket holders were offered either a full refund or Kuching-Kuala Lumpur-Johor flights.
The affordable airline has never issued any media statements on such developments. In fact, the recent cancellations are not even clearly stated on its official website, aside from the inability to purchase tickets on affected flights.
The closest thing to official statements on the cancellations have been from Firefly’s Facebook page.
Responding to a Kuching-Kuala Lumpur ticket holder’s complaint on Facebook, Firefly replied: “We regret to inform you that Kul-Kch-Kul are not available for sale after October at present. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”
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By YU JI yuji@thestar.com.my
KUCHING: Firefly’s impending pullout from Sarawak before the yearend may mean that the targeted four million foreign tourist arrivals, a figure set by state authorities earlier this year, is unlikely to be achieved.
This is according to Sarawak Tourism Federation, an umbrella association for the private sector, which said the pullout would be a huge setback for the industry, coming just months after Royal Brunei Airlines closed its Kuching-Brunei route.
Federation president Audry Wan Ullok said Firefly’s high flight frequency – up to seven times daily between Kuching and Kuala Lumpur – plus the high load factor of about 70% would be a big gap to fill.
“My feeling is we will really start to feel the impact (of Firefly’s possible pullout) during the year-end school holiday,” Audry told The Star here yesterday.
“Domestic tourists make up a very big part of our industry. Because of that, cheap airfares have always been an important ingredient of Sarawak’s tourism.
“As for non-Malaysian tourists, they have to transit because of lack of direct flights. Travel expenses to Sarawak are a big part of tourist budgets. Often times, travelling costs more than accommodation.”
Last year, about 3.2 million tourists came to Sarawak, out of which 1.4 million were domestic travellers.
Peninsular Malaysians made up about 747,000, and Sabahans about 625,000.
Non-Malaysian arrivals were just over 1.9 million, with Bruneians making up about 1.19 million.
For 2011, arrivals in Sarawak was increasing. Year-to-date arrivals growth had been around 20%, with the rate of non-Malaysian arrivals increasing faster than domestic travellers.
Based on the growth rate in the first half the year, the Tourism and Heritage Ministry had aimed for arrivals to top out at 4 million.
“We were on track to hit the new record for Sarawak,” Audry said yesterday.
“Now I don’t think so any more. It could even be likely that figures (for the late part of the year) could decline.”
The industry now is banking on low-cost operator AirAsia to pick up Firefly’s cancelled flights.
Rahim Bugo, the operator of Permai Rainforest Resort, about 30km from here, said the eco-tourism sector would be hardest hit.
“Sarawak doesn’t attract much ‘luxury’ tourists. We get nature and adventure tourists, who are less able to afford higher prices. Price is an issue for them,” Rahim said.
Saya adalah penyokong BN. Sekiranya BN betul betul nak membela rakyat, dapatkah mereka membantu golongan yang susah seperti saya ini yang dibebani hutang gara gara kad kredit. saya ada 6 orang anak untuk disara dan masih dalam persekolahan. dimanakah saya dapat meminta bantuan kewangan. sekian terima kasih.
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