SIBU: The Ministry of Tourism Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports is looking into the requests of the people for better air connectivity for Sibu, with its minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah yesterday calling on the townsfolk to be patient.
Abdul Karim said there are various matters that need to be resolved in strengthening Sibu’s air connectivity.
Abdul Karim was asked to respond to Sibu Municipal Council (SMC) chairman Datuk Tiong Thai King’s call for more direct flights to Sibu and putting an end to the monopoly of air service.
Tiong had also appealed to the state government to stop placing Sibu under the Rural Air Services (RAS) category.
The Dudong assemblyman said this at the closing of Visit Sibu Year (VSY) 2017 and New Year countdown on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Minister of International Trade and E-Commerce Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh in supporting Tiong’s call, had said Sibu should be given better air connectivity as the town is the gateway of the central region.
On this, Abdul Karim said: “We hope SMC and Sibu folk could be patient on this matter as many matters need to be addressed before direct connectivity and increase in number of flights are approved … among them – it involves other departments and agencies like Mavcom (Malaysian Aviation Commission), Immigration and Customs, which will also need to increase their personnel to cater for the increase in flights.”
Moreover, he said, airlines would need to look at the passenger loading too.
“We do understand Sibu is an important ‘gateway’ to the central region and hope that our request for this connectivity is approved soonest,” Abdul Karim added. -TheBorneoPost
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