This is because, according to Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg, the MAB is dragging its feet in the negotiations.
“Because of ding dong, ding dong, we decided to forget about it – after all we have alternatives,” The Borneo Post quoted him as telling a press conference.
“Yes, it was our intention before to take over MASwings, but since they make it so difficult, we just forget about it.”
He said this after witnessing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the state government and four China firms at Wisma Bapa Malaysia here yesterday.
Abang Johari, who is also minister of finance and economic planning, said the state was studying other alternatives, the report added.
This will include the possibility of asking the China Express Airlines Co Ltd, which had signed an MOU with the state government, to provide charter flights for Chinese tourists to remote tourism spots in Sarawak.
The Sarawak and Sabah governments had been trying to acquire MASwings’ equity since 2012.
They wanted to turn the rural air service carrier, which was then fully owned by Malaysia Airlines (MAS), into a medium-haul airline to serve the Asean region from Kuching and Kota Kinabalu, according to The Borneo Post. It would have also served routes with fight durations within seven hours, such as Bali, Jakarta, Bangkok, Tokyo and Australia.
However, the negotiation stalled when Malaysia Airlines was taken over by a new management, Khazanah Nasional Berhad, said The Borneo Post report.
In a recent interview with the New Straits Times, Malaysia Airlines Bhd chief executive officer Peter Bellew said MASwings’s fleet would stay the same.
“They have 10 ATR 72-500 aircraft and two Twin Otters. They provide a very important service in Sabah and Sarawak. Their operation has stabilised and they get a minimal government subsidy. We don’t foresee any great change in that and the service is operating quite well and is satisfactory.”
The airline, which began operations on Oct 1, 2007, has a rural air service agreement with the Transport Ministry to fly to rural Sabah and Sarawak, and Tarakan in Indonesia.