He said this was to ensure the airfares during the school holidays or Chinese New Year 2023 are affordable for the rakyat, especially students and those wishing to visit their family members in Sarawak or West Malaysia.

“However, we still encourage potential travellers to plan their journey ahead and book their flights early to get promotional and discounted airfare,” he said in his ministerial winding-up speech at the State Legislative Assembly sitting today.

Lee said that as of October 31, there were 373 weekly Malaysia domestic flights which departed from Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu, Johor Bahru, Penang, Kota Bahru and Labuan to Sarawak.

“Kuching International Airport received 199 flights weekly, followed by Miri Airport with 82 flights, Sibu (49), Bintulu (31) and the rest of the flights were to smaller airports such as Limbang, Lawas and Mulu.

“As for international flights to Sarawak, there are 35 currently – mostly from Singapore and Brunei Darussalam,” he said.

Lee said Kuching International Airport received the most weekly flights with 27 while Miri Airport received eight, with the routes served by AirAsia Berhad, Malaysia Airlines Berhad, Scoot Tigerair Ltd and Royal Brunei Airlines.

On a related note, he said Sibu would have its first direct connectivity to Singapore with AirAsia Berhad having its inaugural flight on Dec 16.

“There will be four flights weekly – every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

“We believe this will be a great convenience for business travellers and tourists, which will spur economic activities in Sibu,” he said.

The Sibu-Singapore flight departs at 1.30pm while the Singapore-Sibu flight will depart at 4pm.