PETALING JAYA: Efforts will be made to reduce airfares, especially for the coming Hari Raya festive period, says the Transport Minister.
Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong said his ministry would make every effort to ensure that the aim was achieved to help ease the people’s hardship.
“I will investigate the validity of the complaints reported,” Dr Wee said in a statement yesterday.
The minister said he chaired a special meeting involving the ministry, Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom), Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) and domestic airlines on Thursday evening.
“In the meeting, I asked Mavcom and the airlines to immediately conduct a detailed and thorough investigation into the issue of the increase in airfares during this festive season.
“The determination of domestic airfares by national airlines was based on the rationalisation of the domestic air services sector in 2006.
“In this regard, the Cabinet at that time had decided that national airlines providing domestic air services be given freedom in determining network coverage, flight frequency and fare rates to be offered based on market demand.
“This is in line with the practice of most other countries which do not regulate airfares for international or domestic routes.
“Although the ceiling price can lower airfares during the peak season, it will still lead to an increase in airfares during the normal season,” he added.
Dr Wee said that based on the monitoring conducted by Mavcom, airfares on April 30 (the peak travel date for the Hari Raya period) had increased compared to the average airfares in 2019.
“This increase was due to increased cost of operations, primarily rising jet fuel prices, as well as limited resources for airlines to increase to full capacity.
“The dynamic pricing mechanism uses artificial intelligence in the process of determining the fare price, not manually raising prices as claimed.
“Airlines are having trouble adding flight capacity immediately due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The aircraft must go through a process of maintenance, repair and overhaul before it is approved for safe service,” he added.
Dr Wee said once the country entered the endemic phase and demand increased from consumers, airlines would need more time and replacement tools for re-operational readiness.
He noted that for April 2022, the frequency of flights to Sabah and Sarawak was still low at only 68% compared with the pre-pandemic period in 2019.
He said Mavcom, CAAM and Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) were ready to consider and approve airlines’ applications to increase flight frequencies, operate air traffic control services and extend airport operating hours during this and upcoming festive periods.
“CAAM has already approved the necessary extension of the operating hours of air traffic control services at airports.
“This will assist airlines in planning capacity additions, especially ahead of the festive season.
“The Transport Ministry through Mavcom will inform the public of the outcome of discussions with all airlines in the near future,” he said.
Dr Wee thanked Sarawak Premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg, Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor and his deputy Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin for voicing out the grievances of their peoples.
Hajiji had on Wednesday urged the Federal Government to look into the issue of increasing airfares and intervene if necessary, urging the ministry to find ways to reduce airfares, especially for domestic routes.
He said recent reports of soaring airfares for flights between Kuala Lumpur and Sabah for the Hari Raya period had raised concerns.
On April 9, Sarawak Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah urged the Federal Government to seriously look into flight frequencies for Sarawak from Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah, and also the airfares.
He said Sarawak wanted to draw more tourists but added the high airfares was a hindrance.