AirAsia axes underperforming routes, explores new ones to boost Sabah tourism

 By Olivia Miwil - March 22, 2025 @ 8:42am

Sabah Assistant Tourism, Culture and Environment minister Datuk Joniston Bangkuai (left) and AirAsia chief executive officer Datuk Captain Fareh Mazputra met during the airline iftar event at Sabah International Convention Centre here last night. - Pic from Datuk Joniston Bangkuai's Facebook page.

KOTA KINABALU: AirAsia is suspending several direct international routes that have underperformed, as part of a strategy to boost passenger traffic and better support Sabah's tourism targets.

The low-cost carrier recently announced the temporary suspension of routes to Ningbo, Kaohsiung, Wuhan, Kunming and Manado.

Its chief executive officer Datuk Captain Fareh Mazputra, said the affected routes were not yielding the expected results.

"We have seen quite a few routes that we are temporarily suspending, as they are not providing the results that we want.

"If you are going to launch five new routes, it is better for us to be able to bring in more passengers, like 200,000 to 300,000, rather than what we are doing now, which is not so effective.

"It is also not effective for the state, because the state has a target of bringing in more tourists, so we want to support that," he said during the airline Ramadan Sungkai at Sabah International Convention Centre here last night. 

Present were state Assistant Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Joniston Bangkuai, Sabah Tourism Board (STB) chief executive officer Julinus Jeffery Jimit as well as Consul General of Indonesia Consulate in Kota Kinabalu Rafail Walangitan. 

Despite the suspension, Fareh said the overall impact would be minimal, affecting only around 70,000 passengers.

Instead, the airline is focusing on routes with greater potential to bring in larger numbers of travellers.

"That's what we want to focus on, and we are working very closely with STB and other stakeholders to determine what those destinations would be," he said.

Prior to the event, Fareh had also met with representatives from the Sabah Association of Tour and Travel Agents, the Malaysian Chinese Tourism Association, and the Sabah Tourist Association during a meeting at the Sabah Tourism Board office here.

AirAsia has set an ambitious target of flying five million guests to Sabah in 2025, a significant increase from the 3.7 million passengers recorded in 2024.

On Monday, state Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Christina Liew expressed her optimism that, despite the suspension of those routes, Sabah would still be able to achieve its 3.5 million tourist arrival target through other avenues, including Asean-related activities