Charter Direct Flights To Boost Tourism From Delhi To Sabah: Malaysian Minister

By Deepak Arora

Malaysian Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture YB Khairul Firdaus Akbar Khan

KOTA KINABALU (Sabah, Malaysia), June 15:

Malaysian Government is working towards direct charter flights from New Delhi and other cities to Sabah to reduce travel time and attract more Indian golfers and tourists to this amazing paradise.

Sabah is a Malaysian state occupying the northern part of Borneo Island.

Currently, there are no airlines that fly direct from New Delhi and other Indian cities to Kota Kinabalu, the Capital of Sabah.

Speaking with this correspondent, Malaysian Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture YB Khairul Firdaus Akbar Khan said the government is keen to attract more Indian golfers with family to Sabah that has amazing, picturesque and challenging 20 golf courses.

“To sharply reduce the travel time between the two cities, the Government is in talks with airlines and tour operators of both the countries to bring direct Charter flights to Sabah.

Sabah’s Assistant Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment Joniston Bangkui

This would give Indian golfers and tourists more time to enjoy lovely sea-side resorts with beautiful and challenging golf courses,” said the Minister.

The young and dynamic Minister, YB Khairul Firdaus Akbar Khan, said “the direct charter flights can help increase the number of Indian tourists to Sabah by 50 per cent by next year.”

He said as soon as we receive a good number of charter flights from India then the Malaysian Government would think of introducing a Visa on Arrival for Indian tourists.

Minister YB Khairul Firdaus Akbar Khan said the increase in the number of charter flights would bolster the scheduled airlines to introduce regular direct flights from India to Kota Kinabalu.

He said the Malaysian Government would expedite the applications of charter flights from India and rest of the world.

Sabah’s Assistant Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment Joniston Bangkui said that Sabha Tourism and Tourism Malaysia were planning to introduce golf packages along with some of the top resorts such as Sutera Harbour Resort, Shangri-La Rasa Ria and Nexus resort to make it more attractive and luxurious destination for the golfers.

Joniston Bangkui said that Sabah is the hidden jewel of Malaysia.

It may be mentioned that Kota Kinabalu International Airport, popularly known as KK by the locals, is the second-busiest airport in Malaysia. The KK airport serves as the gateway for most tourists entering into Borneo. Kota Kinabalu airport is 6 km from Central Kota Kinabalu.

KK serves as the gateway to the rest of Sabah. To go around and out of KK, public transportation such as taxis, buses, trains, and e-hailing services are available.

Indian delegation on the Golf Fam tour was received at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport by the Tourism Department officials -- Humphrey Ginibun and Siti Fatimah. The delegation included MP Khanna, Anil Dev, Deepak Arora, Dinesh and Romit Bose. Tourism Malaysia Acting Director (New Delhi) Akmal Aziz accomapnied the delegation from New Delhi.

One of the fastest ways to travel to Kota Kinabalu is on Batik Air and Malaysia Airlines with a short stopover in Kuala Lumpur. Some of the other airlines that fly from Delhi to Kota Kinabalu include Singapore Airlines, Emirates and Thai Airways. There are 13 airlines flying from Kota Kinabalu to 57 airports around the world, as of May 2023.

Besides Delhi, there are flights from Mumbai, Hyderabad, Patna, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chennai and Cochin to Kota Kinabalu.

Sabah is famed for its 4,095m-tall Mount Kinabalu, the country’s highest peak, crowned with distinctive granite spires. Sabah is also known for its beaches, rainforest, coral reefs and abundant wildlife, much of it within parks and reserves. Offshore, the Sipadan and Mabul islands are noted diving destinations. In Sabah one can find one the finest sumptuous seafood.