Domestic airfares increased three-fold during festivities — Loke

KUALA LUMPUR: Prices of flight tickets had increased by three-fold between 2016 and 2017, particularly during the Chinese New Year seasons for routes within West Malaysia, Peninsular to Sabah and Sarawak, and between the East Malaysian states, said Transport Minister Anthony Loke.

In most cases, he said the price hike occurred from the first to fourth days of the peak period where demand spiked.

Loke said that in response to Senator Datuk Yong Wui Chung’s question on whether the government planned to control the prices of fights tickets for domestic routes between Sabah and Sarawak, as well as Sabah and Kuala Lumpur particularly during the festive seasons during the Dewan Negara sitting here.

He said Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) has concluded a study on the pricing of domestic flight tickets in Malaysia during festive seasons and the report has been submitted to the Transport Ministry on July 30 this year.

Depending on the routes and airlines, he said the average price of domestic flight tickets were generally on a downward trend between January 2011 and April 2018.

He said Mavcom also found that the trend for air fares during peak seasons in Malaysia was similar to that of Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and the United States.

To Yong’s question, Loke said majority of flight authorities of other countries did not control the pricing of flight tickets for international and domestic routes.