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