SABAH Air will bound to have some form of cooperation with Brunei and the Royal Brunei Airlines (RBA), the Malaysian state's top tourism official said.

Sabah's Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment, Dato Masidi Manjun told The Brunei Times on the sidelines of the inaugural launch of MASwings Bandar Seri Begawan flight to Kota Kinabalu on Thursday, that whether or not Sabah Air is an airline of itself or not, it will surely be in cooperation with RBA.

When asked if there are any recent developments, Dato Masidi said that at the moment, it is still in the conceptual stage.

"Obviously, we are very realistic people and in whatever form it takes on later, there will be collaboration with Brunei," he said.

Dato Masidi added that Sabah is grateful that RBA has always been helpful to them, and hoped that it will remain that way, or even improve further.

"I can assure you, if and when, a new airline takes form, it will involve Brunei," he stressed again.

However, Sabah has yet to contact RBA regarding the matter as the minister explained that they need to first create the form and have something substantive.

"We have to sort out the issues first before we contact them," he said, at the Pacific Sutera hotel here in KK.

He gave an example saying that if passengers in Borneo were looking to go North, then maybe the cooperation will involve Bruneians stopping in KK.

But if passengers are looking to go South, for instance, Australia, Sabahans will definitely have to stop in Brunei.

"But if it involves RBA, passengers (from here) will definitely have to stop in Brunei. The whole idea is to benefit together. To me, a cooperation must be a win-win situation. It should not be at a disadvantage to the other party so that it is sustainable," Dato Masidi said.

In a report from the Daily Express last month, Sabah's Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman said that Sabah is looking to increase tourist arrivals with or without Malaysia Airlines.

"If they are not around, obviously, we cannot be waiting for them to come," he said in the report.

The Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) President Yong Teck Lee said that working with RBA would be one way of resolving Sabah's outbound issue, and that Sabah Air working alone would "kill the company".

Yong, quoted in Free Malaysia earlier in the year, added: "If an airline were to emerge in Borneo, I would think the first airline to talk to is the RBA, using Bandar Seri Bagawan as a hub."

MAS, in December 2011, announced the suspension of four direct flights from Osaka, Haneda, Seoul and Perth beginning early this year, leaving Sabah in search for an alternative way to improve air connectivity.The Brunei Times