KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Airlines' (MAS) wholly-owned unit, MASwings, will commence flight operations into Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asean Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) next year.

CEO Datuk Capt Mohd Nawawi Awang said the flights into Bandar Seri Begawan (Brunei), Pontianak (Indonesia) and Tarakan (Indonesia) were expected to be catalysts for further socio-economic growth in this region.

"We aspire to cater to the travelling needs of the Sabahans and Sarawakians as well as the communities of BIMP-EAGA," he said in a statement yesterday.

MAS said the twice daily Kota Kinabalu-Bandar Seri Begawan flights and the three times weekly Kuching-Bandar Seri Begawan flights would start Feb 1 2012.

The daily Kuching-Pontianak flights would start from Feb 6 next year and the three times weekly Tawau-Tarakan flights on Feb 13 2012, it said.

It said MASwings has also launched a promotional fares for these flights - RM233 one-way net fare for the Kuching-Bandar Seri Begawan flights and RM33 one-way net fare for the other flights.

"The promotional fares are open for sale from today until Jan 31 2012 for the travel period of February 1 to April 30 2012.

"All travel must be completed on or before April 30 2012," it said. Bernama