KUCHING: The Ministry of Transport through the Malaysian Aviation Commission (MAVCOM) constantly monitors flight ticket prices for domestic routes including those between Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah and Sarawak, especially during the festive season.
According to the Minister of Transport, Anthony Loke, the determination of domestic air fares by national airlines is based on the rationalisation of the domestic air service sector in 2006.
He explained that, in this regard, it has decided that national airlines that provide domestic air services are given the freedom to determine network coverage, flight frequency and fares that they want to offer based on market demand.
“In this connection, the airlines have implemented a special initiative to offer flight tickets at a low price.
“For example, AirAsia has provided 62 additional flights (an additional 11,400 seats) at fixed low fares from Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahru to seven destinations, namely Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan and Tawau in Sabah, as well as Kuching, Sibu, Bintulu and Miri in Sarawak from April 19 to April 21 and April 28 to April 30 in conjunction with the Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebration.
“While Malaysia Airlines Berhad offers a special programme for students which is MHexplorer where students who are registered with the programme are eligible to enjoy a discount of up to 30 per cent from the flight ticket price, in addition to other benefits such as an additional baggage allowance of 10 kilograms and special offers for family members as well as fellow students,” he said.
He said this when answering a question from Senator Rita Sarimah Patrick Insol in the Dewan Rakyat recently.
He added that the government through MAVCOM had conducted a study on the setting of a ceiling price to control the price of flight tickets in August 2018.
“The study shows that the ceiling price mechanism will have a negative effect on consumers in the long term,” he said.
He added that as a government based on Malaysia Madani, the government takes seriously the people’s complaints and concerns regarding the high prices of airline tickets, especially during the festive season.
