Govt urged to look into high airfares
KENINGAU: The government is urged to seriously look into the high cost of airfares, especially in emergency situations.
Information Department deputy director general (management) Datuk Haji Almain Ajirul said he strongly agreed with the stand taken by parliamentarians recently calling on the government to re-evaluate the high airfares in the country.
“This is especially so during time of need or an emergency when you are required to fly immediately and the airfares are way too high than the normal price,” he told reporters after officiating at the Muafakat and Silaturrahim Program with members of the Upper Interior Information Department, Komuniti 1 Malaysia (K1M) and the media at a hotel here yesterday.
Almain said he supports the call for the government to monitor the high cost of airfares, especially for the people of Sabah or Peninsular Malaysia when in desperate and emergency situations where they cannot get cheap fares.
Nowadays when you book your flight online, the airfares would keep escalating day by day and this is burdensome to the people, especially those required to travel on short notice.
“One way travel from Kota Kinabalu to Kuala Lumpur, especially in emergency or short notice, the cost of airfares could exceeds RM1,000 when the average price in the past is only RM300 to RM400, despite the fact that there are more flights frequency these days,” he said.
Of course, it is very much different for those who intend to travel next year as the price would be low and they would have to wait longer before travelling.
Almain said cheap fares should be made available for those requiring to travel on short notice or in emergency.
On the K1M, this year a total of 100 additional K1M were set up throughout the country and this makes more than 1,600 K1M available in the country, while in Sabah alone, there are more than 160.
According to him, the K1M movement have performed well especially as a conduit of communication between the Information Department and the public, besides assisting the Information Department to disseminate information and government policies to the whole community.
He disclosed that the department has also created a book on promoting and marketing products produced by K1M throughout the country so that people can buy the product online.
Almain said, as it is now the online era, K1M members in Sabah must not be left behind, and the products they produce even though small but when it is spread and promoted, it will be better known by their friends and anyone can order and buy it online .
At the event, Almain presented aid assistance to ten recipients from the poor and single mothers.