| Confidence restored Confidence restored MASWings’ interlining, connectivity make tour operators and travel agents have hopes in the northern region MIRI: The impending takeover of the rural air services (RAS) in Sarawak by MASWings, a subsidiary of Malaysia Airlines, has restored the confidence of tour operators and travel agents in the State’s northern region. “The biggest concern among tour and travel agents, particularly those overseas, has been interlining and connectivity. With MASWings taking over, we believe this issue will be resolved,†Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) chief executive officer Gracie Giekie said yesterday. After the announcement that MASWings would operate the RAS from Oct 1, Giekie said more than 1,000 bookings had been received. “Operators (tour and travel agents) in the State and overseas, especially those outside the United Kingdom are very pleased with the announcement. To boost their confidence, we (STB) have started an e-blasting through the Internet overseas, she said. According to her, one tour operator from Europe offering standard package of 26-day tour of Borneo covering Sabah and Sarawak has reinstated selling the package. “Most of the agents were in the verge of scrapping their Sarawak package, particularly to Mulu, after facing problems in interlining and connectivity following the take-over of the services by Fly Asian Xpress. It caused inconvenience to long haul travellers as some of them missed their flights and got stranded. “I believe along the line they received it well because they (overseas agents) are MAS agents. Now they can book through the system in the concept of one ticket - one booking right through,†she said, believing that there would be no problem if their flights were cancelled or they got stranded. She added that various recovery campaigns would be held to lure tourists to the State. Initially, MASWings planned to include the booking in its system by the end of October. However, they decided to include them immediately after STB approached it recently. STB had expected that there would be glitches after October if the bookings were not in the system early. “We don’t want the same problem like last year when MAS let go and FAX were not ready. This resulted in us losing around 16,000 bookings. This is the problem that we don’t want to happen if the bookings are not in the system,†she said. Giekie said stakeholders especially those in the tourism industry were very happy that MASWings was taking over the RAS in the State. The problem of interlining between airlines is now resolved as MASWings operates on MAS code bearing MH. “This means that tourists or visitors who want to come to Sarawak and go to places like Mulu or Limbang, can make their bookings now on the MAS system and could check-in directly to these destinations. “This will certainly help the State’s tourism industry to recover after it has been badly affected due to the interlining problem ever since the rationalisation plan of rural air services was implemented,†she said. Written by:
Anthony Joseph
The Borneo Post
23 August 2007 | 
