{"id":3875,"date":"2026-03-20T06:04:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T06:04:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/?p=3875"},"modified":"2026-03-20T06:05:43","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T06:05:43","slug":"chongqing-kota-kinabalu-flights-begin-thrice-weekly-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/?p=3875","title":{"rendered":"Chongqing-Kota Kinabalu flights begin thrice weekly service"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"MsoNormal wp-block-paragraph\">Sabah\u2019s push to boost tourist arrivals received a lift with the launch of a direct service from Chongqing to Kota Kinabalu, which brought in 154 passengers on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"MsoNormal wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"MsoNormal wp-block-paragraph\">The flight, operated by Chongqing Airlines, a subsidiary of China Southern Airlines, makes Chongqing the eighth Chinese city with direct links to Kota Kinabalu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"MsoNormal wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"MsoNormal wp-block-paragraph\">The others are Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou and Fuzhou.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"MsoNormal wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"MsoNormal wp-block-paragraph\">The inaugural flight OQ2193 landed at Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) at 11.15pm. The service operates three times weekly \u2014 Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays \u2014 in conjunction with Visit Malaysia 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"MsoNormal wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"MsoNormal wp-block-paragraph\">The aircraft was greeted with a water cannon salute coordinated by Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"MsoNormal wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"MsoNormal wp-block-paragraph\">Sabah Tourism Board (STB) \u00a0chief executive officer Julinus Jeffery Jimit, Tourism Malaysia Sabah director Haryanty Abu Bakar, and China Southern Airlines Kuala Lumpur office general manager Guo Hao welcomed passengers with goodie bags.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"711\" data-id=\"3873\" src=\"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/img-20260320-wa00184471585363259403962-1024x711.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3873\" srcset=\"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/img-20260320-wa00184471585363259403962-1024x711.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/img-20260320-wa00184471585363259403962-300x208.jpg 300w, https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/img-20260320-wa00184471585363259403962-768x533.jpg 768w, https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/img-20260320-wa00184471585363259403962-1536x1067.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/img-20260320-wa00184471585363259403962.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"MsoNormal wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"MsoNormal wp-block-paragraph\">Guo said the new route shortens travel time and provides greater access for Chongqing residents to Southeast Asia for tourism, business and cultural exchanges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"MsoNormal wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"MsoNormal wp-block-paragraph\">He said Kota Kinabalu remains a popular destination among Chinese travellers due to its island attractions and tropical scenery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"MsoNormal wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"MsoNormal wp-block-paragraph\">The new service reflects Sabah\u2019s efforts to strengthen air connectivity and support Malaysia\u2019s tourism targets for 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"MsoNormal wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"MsoNormal wp-block-paragraph\">STB will continue working with airline partners and industry players to expand international routes and improve connectivity into the state.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sabah\u2019s push to boost tourist arrivals received a lift with the launch of a direct service from Chongqing to Kota Kinabalu, which brought in 154 passengers on Thursday. &nbsp; The flight, operated by Chongqing Airlines, a subsidiary of China Southern Airlines, makes Chongqing the eighth Chinese city with direct links to Kota Kinabalu. &nbsp; The&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3874,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/IMG-20260320-WA0012.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3875"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3875\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3876,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3875\/revisions\/3876"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}