SABAH AIR (PENERBANGAN SABAH SDN. BDH.): Sabah Air Building, Old Airport Road, Locked Bag 113, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, 88999, Malaysia; Phone 86 51326; Fax 86 80073; Http://www. borneo-online. com. my/sabahair; Code SAX; Year Founded 1975. Formed by the Malaysian state of Sabah on September 22, 1975, Sabah Air begins revenue services from its base at Kota Kinabalu late in the year. Regional passenger and cargo charters are undertaken with a fleet of lightplanes and helicopters. Contract services, oil industry support, aerial survey work, and sight-seeing flights are also flown. Airline employment grows to approximately 75 and the fleet eventually comes to comprise 1 GAF Nomad N.22B, 1 Beech Super King Air 200, and 9 Bell helicopters plus an Aerospatiale SA-315B Lama. Enplanements average some 25,000 per year.
The GAF Nomad N.22B with 11 passengers stalls while on approach to Kota Kinabalu on June 6, 1976 and crashes; there are no survivors.
Operations continue apace during the next 14 years and by 1990, General Manager Tony Liew’s fleet includes the King Air and Nomad plus 7 Bell 206Bs and a 412.
Operations continue in 1991-1998. In addition to fixed-wing operations, the company has flown rotary-wing missions in the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Nepal, Taiwan, and Singapore.
While on a 40-min. offshore support flight on November 26, 1996, for the state oil company Petronas Carigali, the Bell 412 crashes at sea, killing all 10 passengers.
By 2000, the company has its main headquarters at Kota Kinabalu, with offices in Labuan, Sandakan, and Tawau. Early in the year, a homepage is opened on the Internet’s W3.
World History
