Before the COVID had a major impact to air travel in Southeast Asia, I made a weekend trip (which would also be my last flying for a looong time) to Kuching, Sarawak. The COVID impact was starting to be felt in late February, with significant reduction in flight frequencies to countries such as China and Korea. However, most Southeast Asian flights were operating as usual then. Terminal 4, where I checked in, was very quiet except at the AirAsia counters.
With CX, VN and many other PRC airlines suspending flights or cutting frequencies, AirAsia remained as the main airline at T4 with flights to regional destinations..
A very quiet departure hall after security.
Visited Blossom Lounge, which is accessible by Priority Pass. It was rather quiet as well in the lounge.
Bites and drinks
Selection of savoury and sweet from the buffet.
Departure hall from the lounge. It was eerily quiet. Definitely more staff than passengers.
Headed to the gate where our aircraft had arrived on schedule.
Boarding just commenced as we reached the gate.
29 February 2020
Air Asia
AK 1776
Singapore (SIN) - Kuching (KCH)
A320
9M-AQO
Economy Class
Flight Time: 1H11M
Prepping for departure.
Boarding
Welcome onboard by crew in masks and gloves. Standard LCC cabin here.
Flight was about 60% full, with much of the forward cabin being empty. Most passengers were seated towards the aft.
View out the window.
Standard LCC pitch.
Seat pocket materials. The inflight mag was missing.
Pushed back
Safety demo, with masks and all.
Taxied to the runway.
Departure from Rwy02C.
Climbing out from Changi.
We pre-ordered a meal each, which was served shortly after departure. First was the Chinese New Year special of Prosperity Tomato Egg and Fish Stew. It tasted simple and homely.
The other selection was the Chef Hong's Korean Bibimbap. A tad spicy but not too bad for an inflight meal. Really loved AirAsia's wide meal selection.
Cruising at a low 29,000ft.
Visit to the lav. Clean and basic.
View of the cabin.
Starting the descent.
Approaching into Kuching
For some reason, the landing video was accidentally cut off. Landed on Rwy07 and taxied to the gate.
Disembarking
This is a short weekend trip and as during date of the trip, the Covid-19 situation in Kuching, a well as South-east Asia in general, was still not widespread and people were still going about the daily lives as normal. First stop was a late lunch as a Lau Ya Keng foodcourt at Carpenter Street.
Kolo mee, a Kuching must have homely dish, and famous pork satay from the foodcourt.
Seafood dinner at the popular Top Spot Food Centre.
Kuching Waterfront at night.
For this trip, I stayed at Hilton Kuching. Hotel room was nothing memorable, but still decent overall. A messy room next morning and view from the room.
Huge buffet breakfast spread.
Waterfront in the day.
More kolo mee and a secret recipe dessert before flying back.
Hi Terry,
Is it just me, or that there are still quite a number of that on the review?
By the way, Kuching seemed pretty interesting, though - I wonder what's missing from my trip when I had my half-day trip at Miri last year, only to find it a bit quieter than expected. Will consider visiting when the pandemic is over.
Thank you!