Direct Sydney-Kota Kinabalu Flight To Be Discontinued

Effective end of April 2005, the twice-weekly Australian Airlines
direct flights from Sydney to Kota Kinabalu (capital city of Sabah,
Malaysia Borneo) will be discontinued. The decision made by Australian
Airlines was unclear but it was not likely to be due to lack of
popularity.

Since the direct flights were introduced almost two years ago, there
has been a significant increase in the number of Australians coming to
Sabah either for leisure or for business.

The direct flights have also been popular among Malaysians residing in
Sabah. Besides being relatively cheaper in cost, the Kota Kinabalu to
Sydney flights were also a time-saver for Sabahans in particular, who
normally have to fly to Kuala Lumpur in the West of Malaysia for
transit flight to Australia.

The discontinuation of the Sydney-KK direct flights is truly a shame
but on the other hand, given the popularity of this route in its short
history, it should give other air carriers including Malaysia's own MAS
and better still the no-frill-low-fare AirAsia, a golden opportunity to
consider flying direct from KK to Sydney and even Melbourne, and other
cities in Australia.

For a media report, please visit the following URL:

http://e-borneo.blogspot.com/2005/02...op-direct.html


The e-borneo.com Team
Borneo Travel and Trip Advisor
http://www.e-borneo.com/

e-borneo.com wrote:
Effective end of April 2005, the twice-weekly Australian Airlines
direct flights from Sydney to Kota Kinabalu (capital city of Sabah,
Malaysia Borneo) will be discontinued. The decision made by Australian
Airlines was unclear but it was not likely to be due to lack of
popularity.

This is a real pity, but does seem to be confirmed by the QF/AO website,
which will not let me book flights beyond the end of April
Given that AO already fly from Sydney/Melb/Cairns/Darwin to Singapore
(some direct, some not) I wonder that we're not going to soon see an
announcement of JetStar Asia flying Singapore to KKIA - a route which
has been fairly light-on since SQ stopped flying it a few years back.

The discontinuation of the Sydney-KK direct flights is truly a shame
but on the other hand, given the popularity of this route in its short
history, it should give other air carriers including Malaysia's own MAS
and better still the no-frill-low-fare AirAsia, a golden opportunity to

Isn't this route a significant jump on anything AirAsia has ever done?
Australian Airlines has proven that the lower-cost medium/long-haul
international market works, but I'd wonder if a carrier like AirAsia is
really in a position to pull something like this off...

At least AirAsia are still doing JHB-BKI cheaply...

Scott.