KUCHING, Feb 13 — Sarawak Premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Openg has declined to disclose the cost of acquiring MASwings from Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG), citing the need to respect the commercial deal and other players in the airline industry.

Speaking to reporters after witnessing the signing ceremony for the sale and purchase agreement of MASwings here yesterday, he said there are certain details of the acquisition that he could not share publicly due to its commercial nature.

“It’s not expensive and also not cheap but I cannot disclose lah,” he said, adding that the deal to take over MASwings was different from when he announced that Sarawak had paid RM2.5 billion to take over the Bakun hydroelectric plant from the federal government back in 2017.

“I could disclose (the cost of the acquisition of) Bakun as we were the only ones to have Bakun. But for MASwings, we must respect the other (aviation) players. There are MAS, AirAsia, Malindo and Batik Air. We must respect the commercial deal,” he said.

He said the name AirBorneo was picked as the name for the airline post-acquisition as Sarawak also considered the interest of the people in Sabah, who were also served by MASwings during its 17-year operation. — Bernama