More flights during festivals

KUALA LUMPUR: The Transport Ministry will ensure that airlines increase the frequency of flights for every festive season to cater to the high demand, the Dewan Rakyat was told yesterday.

Transport Minister Anthony Loke said besides increasing the number of flights, the Malaysian Aviation Commission (MAVCOM) and the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM), will also consider and approve additional flights for certain routes ahead of festive periods.

“The government will after this introduce additional flights not just for the Chinese New Year, but for all festive seasons whether it is Hari Raya, Hari Gawai or Hari Kaamatan. We will make sure that there will be more flights in the years to come.

“Additional flights have been approved for the Johor BahruKuching and Johor BahruSibu routes for the Christmas and Chinese New Year festive periods, which were applied for by Air Asia Berhad,” he said in reply to a question from Mordi Bimol (PH-Mas Gading). He added that 13 additional flights had been approved for each of the two routes bringing the total number of flights on the Johor Bahru-Kuching route to 75 and the Johor Bahru-Sibu route to 41 (during the festive periods).

Loke said MAVCOM did not receive any request or application to increase the frequency of flights during the Christmas season from other airline companies.

“So far the flight frequency approved for the Christmas period is 31 flights per week for the Johor Bahru-Kuching route and 10 flights for the Johor Bahru-Sibu route operated by Air Asia Berhad.

“The ministry also monitors fares for festive periods in conjunction with the Christmas celebrations and the price, which is not more than RM300, is still affordable,” he said.

To a supplementary question from Ahmad Marzuk Shaary (PAS-Pengkalan Chepa), Loke said MAVCOM and CAAM would consider and approve additional flights for the Kuala Lumpur-Kota Bharu during festive periods, if such requests came from the airline companies.