PUTRAJAYA: The Transport Ministry (MOT), the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom), the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) and three airlines –Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia and Malindo – have reached a decision regarding the price of air tickets during festive seasons.
Transport Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong said the decision came about during the 72-hour long meeting that began on Thursday (April 14) and would be announced soon.
“They have come to a decision and I feel relieved as they have found a solution,” he said at a media conference after launching the road safety and integrated ops campaign in conjunction with the 2022 Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebrations, here, Monday.
Wee said his Ministry was ready to cooperate with all parties to overcome the trend of rising airfares that was said to be affecting not only Malaysia but other locations as well.
The issue of airfares to Sabah and Sarawak has become a hot topic recently with prices on airline websites reaching almost RM2,000 for a return flight to Sabah or Sarawak, a 566 per cent increase compared to the usual RM300 price for the same trip.
A screenshot that went viral showed that the price for a flight to Tawau, Sabah from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) on May 2 was RM3,208.96 for economy class and RM3,617.09 for business class.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob reminded airline operators not to make excessive profits by raising the price of flight tickets to Sabah and Sarawak exorbitantly during this festive season.
Sarawak Chief Minister Tun Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg, his Sabah counterpart Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor and Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Bung Mokhtar Radin have recently also voiced out the plight of East Malaysians who have to cancel their trips home in view of exorbitant airfare hike.
Hajiji described the airfare surge as “burdening the people”, while Bung described the current prices as “daylight robbery”.
On Monday, MOT Secretary-General Datuk Isham Ishak said air ticket prices have dropped by over 30 per cent following Mavcom’s willingness to compromise.
He said the commission would issue a detailed statement on its efforts to look into the reduced fares.
“Some people say that the price (flight tickets) has increased by 70 per cent, but we have managed to reduce the rate and prices have already gone down as of this (Monday) morning.
“This is because we have managed to increase flight frequency by having the planes re-deployed to focus on this (festival) sector,” he said.
Isham said many airline companies are yet to operate at full capacity (number of flights) and had to face fuel price increases in recent times.
This has impacted the price of airline tickets.
He also said last minute purchases also caused the increase in flight tickets.
“It increased around 70 per cent, but now it has dropped significantly,” he added.
