SEPANG: The Transport Ministry will try to get cooperation from other airlines to ensure that their flight frequencies are maintained, or even increased, especially for East Malaysia routes, said its minister Anthony Loke.
He said this in response to questions regarding the issue of reduced Malaysia Airlines flights arising from recent disruptions in their services, which affected Malaysia Airlines, Firefly, and Amal services last month.
"(The flight reductions) is only a temporary measure, not a permanent one — it will last for just a few months. During this period, there are still other options available. There are other airlines, like AirAsia and Batik Air, and Malaysia Airlines is still maintaining some flights (albeit reduced).
"Most of these reductions are likely on international flights. Of course, flights to and from Sabah and Sarawak will also be reduced, but there are still offerings from other airlines.
"But in terms of flight frequency, the ministry will try to get cooperation from other airlines to ensure that their frequency is maintained, or even increased if possible, especially for Sabah and Sarawak routes," he said at a press conference at Kuala Lumpur International Airport Terminal 2.
He also said that the reduction in flights was necessary for the airline to address its technical issues.
"As I've explained, this is a drastic measure taken by Malaysia Airlines. They didn't choose to take this step lightly; due to numerous technical issues affecting Malaysia Airlines, they were forced to reduce flights over the next few months.
"This is to ensure that these aircraft can be sent for maintenance and so forth. The aim is to make sure the planes are better prepared for operations afterwards."
According to AeroRoutes, which published the list of destinations affected by the reduction of flight frequencies as of Sept 1 to Oct 26, domestic flights saw a decrease of 29.5 per cent with 29.8 per cent capacity reductions.
Flights from Kuala Lumpur to Kuching saw a reduction from 443 flights to 283, while Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu from 562 to 321.
Last Monday, Malaysia Airlines temporarily reduced the flight frequency for 13 international destinations in its route network.
They include Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi, Denpasar, Ho Chi Minh, Jakarta, Jeddah, Medan Kualanamu, Mumbai, Osaka Kansai, Seoul Incheon, Shanghai Pu Dong, Singapore, Tokyo-Narita and Yangon from Kuala Lumpur.