Private company

Hornbill Skyways

Aircraft charter company in Malaysia

Hornbill Skyways is a regional aircraft charter service operating in towns and rural areas in Sarawak. The company slogan is "Wings to your Destination". The airline's head office is in North Pan Hangar at Kuching International Airport.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

  • HeadquartersKuching1
Hornbill Skyways
Photo: Unknown author Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons4

Hornbill Skyways is a regional aircraft charter service operating in towns and rural areas in Sarawak. The company slogan is "Wings to your Destination".2

The story

Hornbill Skyways was established in May 1977 as a private company operating one fixed-wing Cessna 421 and two Bell 206B Jet Ranger helicopters. The business idea was to provide air services to rural areas in Sarawak, as an alternative to river transportation at that time. In 1985, Hornbill Skyways was taken over by the government of Sarawak through share acquisition by Yayasan Sarawak (Sarawak Foundation) and Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corporation (STIDC). In 2007, the company had three fixed-wing aircraft and 11 helicopters.

In 1980s, Hornbill Skyways started flying doctor service (FDS) to serve rural population that are out of reach of public health clinics.

Since 1986, Hornbill Skyways helicopters are used to provide logistical operations to the interior during parliamentary and state elections.

As of 2007, the company logged a total of 130,000 flying hours.

The Government of Sarawak announced the plan of setting up its own boutique airline through Hornbill Skyways since December 2021. A memorandum of understanding was inked with Malaysian Aviation Group in 2023 to takover MASWings. A new company was created in May 2024 which was named "AirBorneo Holdings Sdn Bhd". In February 2025, the boutique airline was to be named "AirBorneo".

From Wikipedia’s article on Hornbill Skyways, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Products and brands

Their current fleet consists of the following:

2 Bell 206L LongRanger IV

2 Bell 206B JetRanger

5 Eurocopter EC135 P2/P2+

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1 Eurocopter EC 155 (for State Executive Flight)

1 Bombardier Challenger CL-605 (for State Executive Flight)

3 Beechcraft Super King Air -350I and B200GT (2 King Air 350i, 1 Super King Air B200GT)

Historical fleet

British Aerospace BAe 125

Cessna 421

Cessna Citation II

Dornier 228

Bell 430

Cessna Citation X

Airbus Helicopters H175

The aircraft in the fleet are for the exclusive use of Sarawak government officials. From 2003 until 2008, Hornbill Skyways operated and maintained Dornier 228 owned by Sarawak Timber Industry and Development Corporation (STIDC).

In 2003 Hornbill Skyways took over Vision Air Malaysia (subsidiary of Vision Airlines) together with 2 Dornier 228 after Vision Air Malaysia ceased operations. However Hornbill Skyways ceased operating the 2 Dornier 228 in 2008 when both aircraft were sold to other airline company in Mobile.

From Wikipedia’s article on Hornbill Skyways, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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