20 December 2002KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia's weekly flights to South Korea have increased by almost 200 percent with the recent signing of a new memorandum of understanding.
Air talks between Malaysia and The Republic of Korea, held here on November 29, led to the inking of the MOU to facilitate an expanded traffic rights agreement.
Malaysia Transport Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ling Liong Sik said the new arrangement comprised 22 weekly flights – four passenger and eight cargo flights – with Seoul as the main destination.
This is part of the Transport Ministry mission to expand intra-Asian flights, which will help boost Malaysia tourism industry as well as promoting the KL International Airport in Sepang as the regional aviation hub.
Intra-Asian flights also have more economies of scale, cost-savings and generate more earnings compared with long-haul flights. An airline can optimise its fleet and manpower by flying three to four times a day to Asian countries.
"Unlike long-haul flights, the crew need not stay in the country which means cost-savings for the airlines," said Dr Ling.
As reported by TravelWeekly yesterday, China has agreed to give Malaysia Airlines landing rights to 10 new Chinese destinations, translating into an increase of 50 percent in landing rights and flight frequencies from the present quota.
Malaysia has open skies arrangements with Taiwan and Thailand and numerous flights to other Asian countries including Indonesia and Japan.
In a related development, Dr Ling also announced more incentives to local aviation companies in a bid to encourage air travel and boost the air service sector.
"The Government will offer flight operators incentives to introduce very attractive fares so as to enable more people to travel by air," he said but declined to disclose the type of incentives to be offered.