MAS suspends flights to Medan

MAS suspends flights to Medan

MEDAN, North Sumatra: The Malaysian Airline Service (MAS) has
suspended its flights from Penang to Medan this week because of
the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) threat.

A MAS employee in Medan, Rahmat, confirmed here on Wednesday
that his company had decided to suspend its flights to the city
because of the drastic drop in the number of passengers due to
SARS.

He conceded that despite slashing ticket prices to US$65, the
number of travelers using MAS on the route had plunged last week
to 20 passengers per day, from around 100 per day before the
epidemic.

Prior to the virus scare, MAS had serviced the Penang-Medan
route three times a week on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Rahmat added that he did not know whether the suspension would
be extended if the situation worsened.

The SARS threat has also caused Garuda Indonesia to suspend
its Medan-Singapore route since April 1, while Silk Air has
reduced its flights from 11 times a week to one flight a week for
the same route. -- JP