First international flight lands in Tawau

Grand welcome: Water cannons greeting the inaugural Firefly flight arriving at Sabah’s Tawau airport. (Inset) Sabah Tourism Board senior marketing manager Humphrey Ginibun offering a necklace made of native beads to a tourist.

KOTA KINABALU: A Firefly chartered flight from China’s Nanjing with 157 passengers on board landed safely in Tawau, marking the first international flight to the east coast Sabah district.

The flight touched down at 5.55am yesterday at the Tawau airport, about 60km away from Sabah’s famed diving haven of Semporna.