Spring ditches flights to Sabah

Spring Airlines has suspended flights to Sabah in Malaysia and is offering full refund to customers after a Shanghai tourist was kidnapped and the disappearance of MH370 has badly affected tourism on the sector.

The number of passengers on its flights to Malaysia has dropped sharply, while many others have been cancelling trips, a press officer with the Shanghai-based airline said.

"There were few passengers who had booked tickets to Malaysia," the officer said. The airline started flying to Sabah on July 2 last year.

The budget carrier also said it was cutting the frequency of its flights from Shanghai to Singapore to thrice a week since it was popular as a package destination with Malaysia.

The airline said it had no plans to resume the operations on both routes.

However, Spring's competitor Air Asia has said it has no plans to abort the route and are refusing to refund for sold tickets.

"We have stated clearly that there would be no refunds when the passengers bought the tickets," a staff with the budget airline said yesterday.

Some 200 passengers have set up a right protection group to protest against the airline's decision not to offer refunds.

The ticket price costs about 2,500 yuan (US$402) per person.