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Soaring fares: Pricier flights to Sabah, Sarawak during Hari Raya period
2022-04-10 00:00:00.0     星报-国家     原网页

       

       KUALA LUMPUR (April 10): Increased flight fares to Sabah and Sarawak during festive seasons is not a surprise to Malaysians but is in fact an anticipated scenario annually.

       With the reopening of the country’s borders and the upcoming Hari Raya celebrations, many individuals who have spent the two years where they are due to Covid-19 restrictions are looking forward to returning to their hometowns.

       Local commercial airlines providing flight routes from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu and Kuching offer tickets ranging up to RM300 for return flights during non-festive seasons.

       However, Bernama’s monitoring of commercial airline websites recently saw flight flares skyrocketing up to RM2,000 (return flights) – an increase of around 566% – nearing the Hari Raya festive period from April 29 to May 8.

       Lily Surianti Suardi, 23, a student from Sabah currently doing a degree programme at Universiti Selangor (Unisel), opined that ailrlines should consider separate rates for students furthering studies in the peninsula.

       She said not all students come from well-to-do backgrounds and thus airlines should not set prices beyond the reach of all parties, especially students.

       “If the ticket price is (about) RM1,000, many parties cannot afford it, more so if the family’s income is low.

       “Some people from the B40 (lower income group) want to go home, but due to soaring ticket prices, students like me have cancel our plans to go home,” she said when contacted by Bernama.

       An executive, Fatin Afiqah Yamin, 25, purchased an AirAsia flight ticket to Kuching in early March for a flight on April 23.

       “In comparison, the ticket bought for the date mentioned was for RM198, which increased to RM318 when I checked the price again today.

       “So (RM318) is still expensive and far from the RM198 that got which is (a) round flight,” Fatin Afiqah said.

       Earlier, Facebook user Fandyi Sanizan on April 6 posted an appeal to local airlines to reduce the price of flight tickets between Kuala Lumpur and Sandakan.

       Fandyi shared a screenshot showing that a one-way ticket by AirAsia from Kuala Lumpur to Sandakan scheduled to depart on April 30 this month costs RM1,049 and a similar one-way ticket by FireFly costs RM1,400.

       On a Facebook post on flight tickets during Hari Raya to Sabah, many comments showed some travellers bought the tickets as early as last year.

       User GJ Musang said: “I bought (two-way) tickets for three persons last year for only RM1,682.”

       Another user, Jue Dalilah commented that her family bought two-way tickets from Kuala Lumpur to Tawau for 18 family members in December last year, which cost RM258 per person (one-way for RM129).

       “I bought the tickets although I was feeling doubtful and scared, lest anything else happens during the pandemic season. We have not gone back (to Tawau) for Hari Raya for a few years,” she said.

       On Nov 27 last year, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said that airline companies need to come to a compromise to resolve the issue of high ticket prices to Sabah and Sarawak, especially during the year-end holidays and festive seasons.

       However, he said the government understood constraints faced by airlines due to the Covid-19 pandemic that had affected their operations and profits and would not interfere and set ceiling prices for flight tickets. – Bernama

       


标签:综合
关键词: flight routes     tickets     ticket     Sabah     one-way     Local commercial airlines     Kuala Lumpur