Firefly Penang-Kota Kinabalu flights can draw more tourists to Sabah

KOTA KINABALU: The opening of a new air route between Penang and Kota Kinabalu by Firefly will draw more tourists from the northern states of Peninsular Malaysia to Sabah.
State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister, Datuk Jafry Ariffin said these served as additional flights to the existing ones to Sabah, namely, from Terengganu on the peninsula’s East Coast and Johor in the south.
“The Sabah government is thankful to Firefly for choosing the route to Kota Kinabalu (from Penang) for the first time,” he told reporters after welcoming the arrival of passengers on Firefly’s Penang-Kota Kinabalu flight, here, on Monday.
Also present were Jafry’s deputy, Datuk Joniston Bangkuai; MASwings chief operations officer and Malaysia Airlines Group (MAG) representative, Captain Nasaruddin A. Bakar.
Nasaruddin, meanwhile, said the demand for Firefly flights was very encouraging, recording up to 80 per cent in flight bookings with the upcoming festive celebration.
He also said that the increase in the price of flight tickets depended on the demand, time of flights, date and the seats available.
“We advise that passengers make early reservations for their flight tickets,” he added while informing that 100 passengers arrived here from Penang while there were 116 passengers on the Kota Kinabalu-Penang flight.
It was earlier reported that the local commercial airlines providing flights from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu and Kuching were offering ticket prices from RM300 onwards for a return trip during the festive period.
However, from the commercial airlines’ websites recently, the (return) flight tickets could go up to RM2,000, an increase of about 566 per cent during the Aidilfitri festive period from April 29 to May 8.
— BERNAMA