Gov't looking into issue of expensive air tickets - Ismail Sabri

The Transport Ministry is discussing with airlines to try and resolve the issue of expensive tickets for domestic air travel, especially to Sabah and Sarawak, said Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

Ismail Sabri said he would be informed of the outcome of the meetings soon.

“We understand that airfares are expensive because the implementation of social distancing has forced passenger capacity to be cut to 66 percent.

“We know that a one-way ticket could reach almost RM2,000 for a flight from Miri to Kuala Lumpur, so we are discussing. We hope there will be no more issue for them to raise fares and the like,” he told a daily press conference here today.

He said airlines had applied to fill their planes to full passenger capacity.

“Their excuse is that all the passenger details are in the flight manifest and the passengers can be contacted in the event a (Covid-19) case was detected.

“But the most important thing now is that the standard operating procedures need to be observed to check the spread of Covid-19,” he added.

Checks by Bernama showed that many have complained about expensive fares for domestic air travel and the issue was a hot topic on social media.

This is mainly because many people are planning to go back to their hometowns, following the imposition of the recovery movement control order on June 10, which among others allows interstate travel.

- Bernama