Saturday, January 21, 2012

THE MORE THE MERRIER

The Transport Ministry is encouraging the setting up of more local airlines to serve the country's growing population and in view of the impending implementation of the Asean Open Sky Policy in 2015.

Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Abdul Rahim Bakri said Malaysia does not have a policy that limits the number of licences to operate scheduled air services, although the local market is currently dominated by Malaysia Airlines (MAS) and AirAsia.

"Our population is increasing and we must also take into account that there will be the open skies policy in Asean by 2015. By then, we will not be able to stop any airline from neighbouring countries from coming (to compete in Malaysia). Thus, I think it's better for any Malaysian company that has the capacity, to participate in the business because there will be a lot of opportunities created by the open skies policy," he told reporters after the launch of Eaglexpress Air Charter Sdn Bhd here yesterday.

Abdul Rahim also said Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) expects a 6.6% growth in the number of passengers passing through the 39 airports it runs in the country this year. MAHB handled 65.3 million passengers last year, up 10.6% from 2010. Of the total, 37.7 million passengers passed through the KL International Airport in Sepang. The airport operator also predicts flat air cargo volume growth in 2012, from a contraction of 2% last year.

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