KUCHING: AirBorneo has the potential to act as a corrective force in Malaysia’s aviation landscape by addressing long-standing structural imbalances faced by East Malaysian travellers.
Aviation analyst, Dr Rosli Khan, said the airline could help rectify persistent issues such as higher airfares and limited flight choices for travellers in Sarawak and Sabah, which have characterised Malaysia’s aviation market for decades.
However, he said whether it succeeds or otherwise depends less on its launch date and more on cost discipline, network development reality, and the political will to let it operate as a professionally governed airline.
“By adding capacity and focusing on Borneo-centric routes, this new airline is likely to exert downward pressure on airfares offered by existing airlines, particularly on trunk routes between the Peninsula, Sarawak and Sabah,” he told Sarawak Tribune when contacted.
Beyond pricing, Rosli said that the airline’s real economic value lies in improving connectivity, punctuality, and scheduling for onward connections, effectively strengthening air travel as a form of public mobility infrastructure.
“Reliable air links and good scheduling will reduce economic isolation, support labour mobility, enable access to healthcare and education, and lower transaction costs for businesses.
“If aligned with state development strategies, AirBorneo could support broader regional growth rather than merely shifting market share between airlines,” he said.
Rosli cautioned, however, that the airline’s sustainability in its early years would depend heavily on cost discipline rather than demand.
He said aviation is a high fixed-cost industry with thin margins, and regional operations are particularly unforgiving if load factors or aircraft utilisation (schedules) slip.
He added that fuel price volatility, aircraft selection, leasing costs, and currency exposure would test AirBorneo’s financial resilience from day one, apart from network development, marketing and promotional expenses.
“There is a real risk that political pressure could push the airline into operating weak routes without adequate demand or consistent passenger volume, purely for prestige reason, without transparent subsidies and immediate cost recovery.
“Without a clear separation between commercial routes and public service obligations, AirBorneo could quickly inherit the structural inefficiencies that have had undermined other state owned airlines or regional carriers in the past,” he added.
In terms of performance, Rosli said AirBorneo should be assessed on hard performance metrics rather than symbolism during its first one to three years.
These include route-by-route load factors and yields, cost per available seat kilometre (CASK) relative to revenue per available seat kilometre (RASK), on-time performance, cancellation rates and aircraft utilisation.
He added that operating margins, excluding subsidies, subsidy efficiency per passenger, as well as sustained fare reductions and improved flight frequencies on key routes, should be closely monitored.
On the proposed early 2026 launch, Rosli said the timing is defensible but leaves little room for error.
“Passenger demand has largely stabilised post-pandemic, and incumbent airlines remain cautious, creating an opening for a focused regional carrier to be introduced, especially in a high growth area like Southeast Asia. Fuel prices, while volatile, are no longer at crisis levels, allowing for medium-term cost planning.
“However, a January operational takeover means AirBorneo must be fully ready on day one, when Rural Air Service (RAS) is overtaken by this new airline. Existing passengers expect immediate improvements, no matter how small. Any early failures such as delays, cancellations, safety lapses, will damage confidence very quickly,” he said.
Additionally, he said AirBorneo could genuinely improve rural connectivity and tourism if it is treated as a developmental airline with clear governance on social services, eco-tourism promotion with sustainable low fares, and not as a political campaign fodder.
“For rural Sarawak, reliability and frequency matter more than aircraft size or branding. Consistent services can transform access to essential services and economic opportunities.
“In tourism, better intra-Borneo connectivity can enable multi-destination travel and reposition Sarawak as a regional gateway rather than a niche endpoint.
“This catalytic role depends on sustained funding clarity for rural routes, integration with tourism planning, and resistance to ad-hoc political interference in network decisions,” he said.
