Friday 29 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 4): Airline companies have agreed to increase their domestic flight capacity in line with demand, following discussions with the Ministry of Transport (MOT) and the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom), said Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Henry Sum Agong. 

He said the Government had always encouraged national airlines to increase their flight capacity during festive seasons, especially on high-demand routes, such as Kuala Lumpur to Sibu, Penang to Sibu, and Johor Bahru to Sibu.

However, the Lawas Member of Parliament said the decision to increase the frequency of the routes is a commercial decision made by the airlines based on commercial viability.

Henry said airline companies are still in recovery after being affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, whereby the domestic flight frequency was still low in September 2022 at only 68.2% compared to pre-pandemic December 2019.

He was replying to MPs at the Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday (Oct 4), namely Dungun MP Wan Hassan Mohd Ramli, Kinabatangan MP Datuk Seri Panglima Bung Moktar Radin, and Lanang MP Alice Lau Kiong Yieng. 

The MPs have asked about the MOT's plan to control and monitor the high domestic flight ticket prices, especially for festive seasons.

Henry said the majority of one-way economy class ticket prices for flights to Sabah and Sarawak during the Chinese New Year 2023 festive season were below RM400, based on observations by Mavcom as of Sept 14, 2022.

Ticket prices for the observation period (Jan 18 to 26, 2023) range between RM100 and RM1,235, while for the peak period (Jan 20 to 21), prices range between RM210 and RM1,400, Henry said. 

For more Parliament stories, click here.

Edited BySurin Murugiah
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