Relief for passengers as flights resume in Sarawak

KUCHING: Flights in and out of Sarawak are slowly resuming following Thursday’s (April 18) cancellations due to the eruption of the Mount Ruang volcano in Indonesia.

Flights announcements were back on the board at Kuching International Airport on Friday (April 19), with relief expressed by passengers.

Zairil Fikri, who was going to Kuala Lumpur for a holiday with his family of five, said he had been anxiously monitoring the situation for updates since Thursday.

“I’m relieved that our flight today was not cancelled,” he said.

However, Zairil said the flight was delayed twice, from 11am to 1pm and then again to 3pm.

“Hopefully there will be no further delays,” he said.

Nur Adyliana Abdullah, who came back with her husband for Hari Raya, said she was worried she would not be able to fly to Kuala Lumpur.

“I was scared yesterday that the flight would be cancelled.

“I kept checking for updates, thankfully our flight was not cancelled or delayed,” she said.

A group of passengers whose flights were cancelled on Thursday said they had been waiting since early morning for seats on Friday’s flights.

One passenger, who wished to remain anonymous, said she came to the airport at 3.30am without knowing how long she would have to wait.

“Airlines need a better way to manage the situation rather than letting us wait indefinitely,” she said.

Malaysia Airlines flights to and from Sarawak, Sabah and Labuan were gradually reinstated from Thursday evening amid prevailing weather conditions.

AirAsia said a number of flights to and from Sabah and Sarawak remain impacted by the volcano eruption.

It said all affected passengers had been notified and were encouraged to check their email and mobile phones for cancellation notifications.

In SIBU, Singaporean low-cost airline Scoot retimed the flight from Singapore to Sibu from 5.25am to 12.35noon.