KOTA KINABALU: Airline companies have been urged to seize the opportunity to make Sabah their base of operations as Malaysia anticipates reopening its border soon.

       State Tourism, Culture, and Environment Assistant Minister Datuk Joniston Bangkuai said that given Sabah's past success and prospects, all stakeholders should collaborate to identify and seize new possibilities to revitalise the international tourism industry.

       "Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, Sabah was accessible via direct flights from 20 major international cities with over 220 flights weekly, especially from the north Asia region.

       "On top of that, there are more than 400 domestic flights connecting 10 destinations in Malaysia. As many nations are opening their borders starting March, we believe Malaysia will soon follow suit.

       "In this respect, I invite all airlines to consider Sabah to be your next hub of the operation," he said during a dinner with the Airline Operators Committee hosted by the Sabah Tourism Board (STB) here on Friday (March 4).

       Bangkuai, who chairs STB, expressed optimism that the international travel business would recover, albeit not in the same way as it had been previously.

       He added airlines’ participation and support were essential to help promote the state and to re-establish collaboration on new access into Sabah.

       Meanwhile, Airline Operators Committee chairman Mohamad Azri Mohammad Rashad said the Air Asia, Malindo Air, and MAS flights for the Kuala Lumpur-Kota Kinabalu route recorded high loads.

       "For the past few weeks, most of the flights from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu have had 70% - 80% loads. It’s quite a high number.

       "In fact, there are three to four flights for Sabah in a day as compared to Johor Bahru, Alor Setar, Kota Bharu, and Terengganu,” he added.