He said presently, the route is only served by AirAsia which makes it impossible to fully meet the needs of the general public, resulting in much inconvenience and economic loss.

“The first problem is the scheduling of flight frequency and timing, which is very inappropriate. Not only are there not enough flights, but after the first flight of the day around 7am (from Sibu), the second one does not come around until about 1pm.

“The second problem is the price of air tickets. The price of a ticket is sometimes too high; RM500 or RM600 for booking a day before the trip,” he told The Borneo Post yesterday.

Wong said this in response to MAG’s announcement that it would be transferring the Intra-Borneo services to Firefly, which include the routes between Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan, Tawau and Kuching, as well as the daily Kuching-Miri flights, but with no news of the resumption of flights between Sibu and Kuching.

He said MAG made the above arrangement based on the continued demand recoveries, but could not see the demand for resumption of flights between Sibu and Kuching.

He thus hoped that the needs of Sibu passengers would not be ignored, and urged federal Transport Minister Anthony Loke to exercise his ministerial powers and intervene for the improvement of flights between Sibu and Kuching.

He described this as a very urgent issue which the relevant parties must remedy as soon as possible.

He also hoped that Sibu MP Oscar Ling and Lanang MP Alice Lau would exercise their roles in the federal government to come up with something positive for Sibu folk.

“I will also convey this issue to Tourism Minister Dato Sri Tiong King Sing and state Minister of Transport Dato Sri Lee Kim Shin.

It was reported Tuesday that MAG would facilitate the Intra-Borneo services transfer from Malaysia Airlines to Firefly, effective May 16, due to continued demand recoveries across all markets.

In a press statement, MAG said Firefly would facilitate one-time daily return flights using Boeing 737-800 between Kota Kinabalu (BKI) and Sandakan (SDK), Tawau (TWU), and Kuching (KCH), as well as a daily return flight between Kuching (KCH) and Miri (MYY).

“This move would offer passengers an unparalleled travel experience with comfort, convenience and efficiency. The initiative represents a significant milestone in the strategic route rationalisation plan of MAG and a continuous assessment of its business operations,” it said.