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Mr.Bandit

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Bki-sdk vice vesa loadwise is not really good even with maswings quitting. That route is one of those places where u need to add frequency during cny, raya or school holiday with full flights but on other days youre gonna bleed if you dont trim flights after those seasons.

 

For those saying to improve roads to highways. I dont think it works. 8.5 hours on road going uphill then downhill with zig zagging design then crossing big rivers is not fun with the amount of infrastructure bound to effect wildlife living space. You have elephants escaping danum valley and enrouching up north into the sandakan-kk road danum valley is not big enough.

 

Road conditionwise is s#1t as well. Even the road from tawau airport to semporna is better due to lack of varying topography and leveled terrain.

 

BKI-SDK by road is around 5-6hrs non stop on normal drive. BKI-TWU around 8-9hrs if via Kundasan or 7-8hrs via Keningau. if better road condition can cut short the travel time a lot. took JB-Ipoh by road as an example, before and after the highway is built. Tawau airport to semporna, before the dual lane road is built, the road condition is more or less the same, its slightly better due to lesser heavy vehicle compare to Sandakan there. and almost the entire road had been resurface on recent year.

 

anyway, BKI-SDKvv by air is viable when the fare is competitive. less ppl willing to pay RM200++ for an hour flight in a warm plane, while there is an option to pay RM100+ or sometime even lesser on a cooler plane. not to say peak season. there's a reason why AK can make 3 daily fiights and certain day of the week can up to 5 daily. BKI-TWU needless to mention, there's like no ceiling on this route for now.

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BKI-SDK by road is around 5-6hrs non stop on normal drive. BKI-TWU around 8-9hrs if via Kundasan or 7-8hrs via Keningau. if better road condition can cut short the travel time a lot. took JB-Ipoh by road as an example, before and after the highway is built. Tawau airport to semporna, before the dual lane road is built, the road condition is more or less the same, its slightly better due to lesser heavy vehicle compare to Sandakan there. and almost the entire road had been resurface on recent year.

 

anyway, BKI-SDKvv by air is viable when the fare is competitive. less ppl willing to pay RM200++ for an hour flight in a warm plane, while there is an option to pay RM100+ or sometime even lesser on a cooler plane. not to say peak season. there's a reason why AK can make 3 daily fiights and certain day of the week can up to 5 daily. BKI-TWU needless to mention, there's like no ceiling on this route for now.

I took nearly 7.5 hours drive last year. Lol how fast were u driving? You cant speed up on zig zag road though.

 

Jb ipoh road how much flora n fauna had to be cut down to facilitate? I took the kuantan to kl highway bypassing termeloh u can see how much they had to cut down bunch of hills for a straight road. It was fast though only 2.5hours to get to kl. Not sure if the trade off was worth it.

Edited by jahur

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I took nearly 7.5 hours drive last year. Lol how fast were u driving? You cant speed up on zig zag road though.

 

Jb ipoh road how much flora n fauna had to be cut down to facilitate? I took the kuantan to kl highway bypassing termeloh u can see how much they had to cut down bunch of hills for a straight road. It was fast though only 2.5hours to get to kl. Not sure if the trade off was worth it.

 

at least within the speed limit and moderate traffic. unless you keep following the same tortoise from a-z

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at least within the speed limit and moderate traffic. unless you keep following the same tortoise from a-z

Means telupid-sandakan road stretch has some significant improvement.

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Great news! more options for BKI-SDK route...though dont know if it is sustainable.

 

 

I have been shuttling between both cities for the past several weeks now, mostly on flights, the rest were driving.

 

I can say is that in flights, there are quite substantial tourist traffic (mostly caucasian looking passengers - could be from Europe, Australia or North America) to Sandakan.

 

I say it takes 2-3 hours door-to-door if you take flight. 6-7 hours if driving.

 

I am all for improved highway conditions, if Pan Borneo Highway project can reduce driving time from current 6-7 hours to just 3.5-4 hours, that would be awesome!

 

Flights are justifiable if ticket price roughly equals total petrol cost of driving to Sandakan. Last June, I paid RM68 one-way (with 15kg luggage price included) for AK flight back to BKI. A similar trip by driving only cost me RM66 (and my car still have spare petrol for further town driving for the next 3-4 days)...

 

If highway is improved to within 4 hours driving time between both cities, then that would be serious impact for airlines...

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Why bother with 4x weekly? If can't have once daily, shouldn't even consider.

 

 

If demand is not there, shouldn't fly. With 4x weekly, how many people remember unless others are fully booked.

 

 

If airlines have regional jet range from 35 pax; it could provide daily service without incurring loss and upgrade seasonally.

 

You sound like a person who seemed to have a lot of experience in running an airline :)

 

For those saying to improve roads to highways. I dont think it works. 8.5 hours on road going uphill then downhill with zig zagging design then crossing big rivers is not fun with the amount of infrastructure bound to effect wildlife living space. You have elephants escaping danum valley and enrouching up north into the sandakan-kk road danum valley is not big enough.

 

Good to know there are still wildlife in Sabah and not restricted to National Parks :) The last time I visited Kinabatangan, the oil palm plantations were bordering the wildlife reserve without any buffer zones (that is quite a huge turn off because if the boat ride exits the park by a few meters and you are in oil palm plantations).

 

But I agree on not fragmentizing what's left of the fauna habitat in Sabah. If you look at satellite pictures, you'd see how small those areas are now (replaced with palm oil plantations) and it's all fragmented.

 

Jb ipoh road how much flora n fauna had to be cut down to facilitate? I took the kuantan to kl highway bypassing termeloh u can see how much they had to cut down bunch of hills for a straight road. It was fast though only 2.5hours to get to kl. Not sure if the trade off was worth it.

The karst hills just south of Ipoh are now becoming tables and floors. At the rate this is going, there won't be much hills left around Ipoh. What used to be a gorgeous drive from Gopeng up to Ipoh is now littered with karst hills that are being excavated along with the rainforest that grows on/surrounding those hills. And KL-JB highway doesn't have any forest - most of it are oil palm plus a few spots of rubber plantations here and there.

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I think that if new roads are to be built, they should cut through oil palm plantations rather than virgin forests! We should have legislation to compulsory purchase the plantation land for infrastructure development. It is not uncommon for roads to cut through palm oil and rubber plantations in the peninsula.

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