Sarawak proud of AirAsia

KUCHING: AirAsia's phenomenal growth has gained it yet another admirer -- Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud.

"Frankly speaking, I had found it hard to believe when the group CEO Datuk Tony (Fernandes) first told me that he wanted to buy 150 aircraft and that he wanted to develop Kuching into an international hub for low-cost travel."But today, he has delivered on that promise in just slightly more than a year and I'm very happy for this achievement. Sarawak benefits from his talent and strong drive," Taib said at the launch of the inaugural AirAsia Kuching-Macau flight at the Kuching International Airport yesterday.Also present at the launch were state Minister for Urban Development and Tourism Datuk Seri Wong Soon Koh, AirAsia X chairman Datuk Seri Kalimullah Hassan and AirAsia deputy group CEO Datuk Kamarudin Meraun.At a press conference later, Fernandes said the Kuching-Macau route was only the beginning as AirAsia had definite plans for at least three new international routes from Kuching in the next six to eight months.
"We will be introducing the Kuching-Jakarta route in the near future while the Kuching-Singapore route is awaiting approval from the government. "The Kuching-Perth route will follow suit, maybe within the next eight months."We need bigger aircraft for the Kuching-Perth route and, as it is, the world is short of aircraft. We are lucky to have placed our orders early and expect to have some new aircraft within a couple of months," he said.Fernandes explained that AirAsia was keen to fly to Singapore from Kuching to provide the necessary air connectivity for AirAsia X's flights from Brisbane and London.AirAsia, he said, would also be focused on developing the China market by introducing more flights to Macau and other destinations."The response from Macau is way beyond our expectations and we can only hope for greater frequency and a higher volume of passengers. Macau is an important gateway to China and we will certainly expand this route."Sarawak is an important hub for us. We started with just two flights a week five years ago and now we are doing about 200 flights a week. "In the next five years, we expect to do about 560 flights a week."