Malaysia Airlines will now operate
7 routes between KL International Airport (KLIA) and Peninsular Malaysia cities,
6 routes between KLIA and Sabah/Sarawak, and
6 routes within Sabah and Sarawak.

KL-Penang, KL-Langkawi, KL-Kota Kinabalu, KL-Kuching, KL-Johor Bahru, KL-Miri, KL-Sibu, KL-Terengganu, KL-Kota Bharu, KL- Alor Setar, KL-Kuantan, KL-Bintulu, KL-Labuan,

Kota Kinabalu-Sandakan, Kota Kinabalu-Tawau, Kota Kinabalu-Labuan,
Kuching-Kota Kinabalu, Kuching-Sibu and Kuching-Miri

As of July 10 MAS will be given 3 more routes JB-Kuching, KL-Sandakan, KL-Tawau

Sept 8 MAS will fly a total of 25 routes including Penang-Langkawi, Kota Kinabalu-Miri and Kuching-Bintulu

With this, MAS and AirAsia will offer on a weekly basis
21 (14) flights on the Kuala Lumpur-Labuan route,
35 (14) flights on the Kota Kinabalu-Labuan route,
49 (35) flights on the Kota Kinabalu-Sandakan route,
35 (28) flights on the Kota Kinabalu-Tawau route,
21 (14) flights on Kota Kinabalu-Miri route,

28 (21) flights on Kuching-Kota Kinabalu route,
49 (35) flights on Kuching-Miri route,
49 (35) flights on Kuching-Sibu route
21 (14) flights on Kuching-Bintulu route.

I first travel with AirAsia JB-KK on Nov 2004. I recently took AirAsia from JB-Miri on June 2006. AirAsia has grown by leaps and bounds since then, providing affordable flights to the masses. The rationalisation exercise announce by government is a good step to promote malaysia as a hub and also enable better ultilisation of resources.

MAS should focus on their international flights and not keep dwelling on the domestic routes. Time will tell which party does a better job in the domestic market. No point for MAS to become a jaguh kampung in the domestic market while incurring losses that will affect the P&L and drains the taxpayers money in the form of subsidies. Hopefully with the newly formed Flying Asian Express for the RAS, there will be better ultilisation of resources and in the future the RAS business will be self sustaining.