S'wak conducting due diligence on MASWings, says state Deputy Transport Minister

State Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Dr Jerip Susil speaking in the Sarawak Legislative Assembly on Thursday (Nov 23). - ZULAZHAR SHEBLEE/The Star

KUCHING: Sarawak is currently conducting due diligence on MASwings Sdn Bhd towards taking it over to become the state's own airline.

State Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Dr Jerip Susil said negotiations were also ongoing with Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG) and Khazanah Nasional Bhd to acquire shares in MASwings.

He said this came after the state government, Hornbill Skyways Sdn Bhd and MAG signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Oct 27.

"The takeover will be in stages and the operation of the Sarawak-owned airline will only commence once the whole takeover process is completed and finalised," he told the Sarawak Legislative Assembly on Thursday (Nov 23).

Dr Jerip was replying to Datuk Lo Khere Chiang (GPS-Batu Kitang), who wanted to know when the state-owned airline would start operating.

To a supplementary question from Lo, he said the state and Federal governments signed a MOU on July 20 on the acquisition of rural air services (RAS) by Sarawak.

"Through this MOU, the Federal Government has given assurance to continue the RAS subsidy, while acquisition of RAS by the Sarawak government will not affect services on all existing RAS routes as stipulated in the RAS agreement," Dr Jerip said.

He also said there were currently 40 approved RAS routes, comprising 30 in Sarawak, six in Sabah and four between Sarawak and Sabah.