Thursday November 2, 2006
Ensuring MAS, AirAsia flights take off on time
SEPANG: On-time flights performance by Malaysia Airlines and AirAsia will be published regularly in a move to cut down on delays.
Transport Minister Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy said this was one of the measures being considered by the ministry’s committee set up to look into the matter of delayed flights.
“We are still talking to the airlines on how we can achieve this but I believe they will be supportive of such a move,” he told reporters after greeting passengers of the inaugural Kuwait Airways flight at KL International Airport here yesterday.
“The committee has come up with a preliminary report, but we still need to give them more time to table a comprehensive analysis of the situation.”
In August, Chan had voiced his unhappiness over the flight delays, some of which lasted several hours, after receiving a number of complaints from passengers.
On whether the fuel surcharge imposed by MAS and AirAsia would be revised in view of the decline in worldwide oil prices, Chan said the Government would leave the decision to the airlines.
“The airline companies will decide on the mechanism involved in the fuel surcharge.”
Chan said he had not received any latest information regarding MAS and Penerbangan Malaysia Berhad's (PMB) decision on the acquisition of new Airbus planes.
He said Kuwait Airways was the seventh airline to fly into KLIA from the Middle East and the 46th to make the airport its hub.
“It will further enhance our status as a hub, especially as next year is Visit Malaysia Year.
“In 2005, there were over 700,000 tourists from the Middle East. We hope that with this new flight, there will be more tourists coming from that region,” he said, adding that three more airlines – Finnair, Cebu Pacific and Ethihad Airlines – were scheduled to fly into KLIA next year.
Kuwait Airways chairman Sheikh Talal Mubarak Abdulla Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah said the airline had made Malaysia its hub in the region since 1994 but had to suspend operations in 2002 due to a company restructuring exercise.
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