KOTA KINABALU: A Firefly chartered flight from China’s Nanjing with 157 passengers on board landed safely in Tawau, marking the first international flight to the east coast Sabah district.

The flight touched down at 5.55am yesterday at the Tawau airport, about 60km away from Sabah’s famed diving haven of Semporna.

Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Christina Liew said the new chartered flight route was made possible by Firefly that worked closely with the Sabah Tourism Board and Tourism Malaysia.

She said Firefly will operate the chartered flights three times a week, scheduled to arrive in Tawau every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday with a 540-seat capacity per week until the end of March....read more