KUCHING: Everything concerning the state government’s intention to set up a boutique airline must be kept above board.
Bandar Kuching MP Kelvin Yii believed it would be in the best interest of all Sarawakians if the state government was transparent on the total cost of the whole project, those involved, economic feasibility and sustainability study, and cost-effectiveness analysis when setting up the airline.
He added that this was because the airlines may have a big impact on the economic safety and long-term economic sustainability of Sarawak.
“While I am supportive of what is good for Sarawak, especially to find ways to improve connectivity and stabilise ticket prices into Sarawak, I express some reservations on the idea of setting up Sarawak’s own airline, as it may not be sustainable and economically feasible and will come at a huge economic cost to Sarawak.
“Even though the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has agreed in principle to a proposal, I believe it is in the best interest of all Sarawakians to be made more aware of the details especially since running an airline business is very tough, on top of being highly regulated in terms of organisational structure, passenger safety regulations, speciality, and other aviation requirements,” he said in his Facebook post Tuesday (Apr 18).
He added that it may cost a lot of public funds to set up and tough to sustain the business model and maintain the assets as Sarawak may not have the economy of scale to keep it sustainable.
“If they were profitable, I am sure the other airlines would have taken advantage of it and provided more of such routes into and out of Sarawak.
“We do not want to see after a period of time, Sarawak will have no choice but to use a huge sum of our public funds to bail out the airlines to keep it afloat as it cannot remain sustainable,” he said.
In this instance, Yii felt a better option would be to find ways with existing airlines to improve connectivity, especially domestic routes within Sarawak by offering incentives and even subsidies rather than take on a whole airline company which requires high investment, high cost and high expertise which may not be beneficial especially in the long term.
“In principle, it should not be the business of the government to be in business.
“Their role is to provide a conducive environment and ecosystem for business to thrive or find ways to incentivise the private sector to come up with good and sustainable business plans for the people, rather than trying to start their own airlines.
“So it is beneficial for all Sarawakians for the Sarawak government to be transparent with all their plans, including short term and long-term plans to make it profitable so it does not jeopardise the long term future economic security of all Sarawakians,” he stressed.
