Malaysia Airlines, the flag carrier for Malaysia lands at the Zamboanga International Airport for the first time since 2000. Unfortunately, this wasn't a regular commercial flight. According to a report from Daily Express Malaysia, the Boeing 737-800 aircraft was carrying 151 Filipino deportees from Sarawak. The last time Malaysia Airlines had served the Zamboangeños
Back in the 90s, Zamboanga International Airport used to have direct flights to Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan with Malaysia Airlines. The direct flights was a part of Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) route, to strengthen the tourism and economy between these four nations. Unfortunately, Malaysian Airlines had faced financial troubles, with the Asian Economic Crisis in 1997 where the airline had suffered loses of as much as RM 260 Million (PhP 3 Billion). Although the airline manages to continue flights in Zamboanga, the airline continues to gain more loses than profits, with another RM 417 Million (PhP 4.8 Billion) in 2000. With their loses since 1997, the airline decides to stop their direct flights to Zamboanga in 2000. Will they ever go back for Zamboanga? There might be a chance that the airline would bring back their service in Zamboanga, as Malaysian authorities showed their support when Philippine Airlines had announced their plan to re-open Zamboanga - Kota Kinabalu flights. And although the Pandemic had made this postponed, once it resumes in the future and would gain a lot of tourists and passengers, other airline companies would follow, including Malaysian Airlines. Let's just hope that the COVID-19 Pandemic would end soon. After all, BIMP-EAGA and its routes will always be there to help our countries to recover from this crisis. Additional info: Malaysia Airlines, Daily Express, Aviation Updates Philippines
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