SDMC the cause of high air fares to Sarawak

 

From a Concerned Sarawak Citizen

CYBERSPACE has been rife with travellers venting their anger and frustration towards airlines over the high ticket prices to Sarawak during Christmas and the holiday season.

With the state elections on Dec 18, there have also been calls by politicians for the government to control ticket prices.

The airline business, like many other consumer businesses, is a volume game. Airlines need to achieve a high passenger volume so that costs can be spread among a sizeable number of passengers.

As a general rule, air fares will be higher closer to the travel date and during peak holiday periods when flights are almost near full. This is not only practised by budget airlines like Malindo and AirAsia but also full-service airlines like Malaysia Airlines and many other airlines in the region and globally.

Almost all airlines today are using a similar pricing mechanism that is based on supply and demand. While this results in higher fares closer to travel dates, it also allows travellers to enjoy cheap fares when they buy their tickets well in advance.

It is interesting to note why the high ticket prices only affect flights to Sarawak.

As a comparison, travellers to Sabah are not facing this issue even though the state is also a key destination for Christmas “balik kampung” and is also a popular tourist hotspot. This is because airlines have been allowed to increase and adjust their flight frequencies to Sabah according to market demand.

In the case of flights into Sarawak, the severely limited flight frequencies imposed by the Sarawak state disaster management committee (SDMC) have obviously resulted in a reduced number of flights, leading to prices soaring.

I remember that before the Covid-19 pandemic, passengers could choose from around 30 daily flights between KL and Kuching, operated by Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia and Malindo. There were extra flights during festive seasons like Gawai, Hari Raya, Chinese New Year, Christmas, etc.

At present, from what we understand, each of the airlines is allowed only three flights daily between KL and Kuching, bringing the total number to only nine daily flights for the highly in-demand sector. This is only 30% of what it used to be before the pandemic.

I am that sure even without any sales promotion, these limited flight seats were snapped up within hours if not minutes.

It is understood that airlines have submitted their applications for a permanent increase in scheduled flight frequencies to Sarawak’s transport ministry last week, for further and final approval by the SDMC. In fact, the airlines have made applications on several occasions since early this year, more so since the interstate travel was allowed to resume in October.

The latest request also included an application for extra flights for the upcoming holiday season, Christmas and Chinese New Year, and to cater for the state elections on Dec 18.

However, according to reliable sources, the latest approval by the SDMC will only give each airline an additional two daily flights for KL-Kuching, from three at present (bringing to five the total daily flights for each airline or 15 daily flights combined). If this is the case, it is still way lower than the pre-pandemic number of flights (total 30 daily flights).

Airlines are in a quandary, and unsure of how much they can bring the fares down given the still limited flights to Sarawak. It is therefore crucial that the SDMC and the state’s transport ministry open up more flight slots to all airlines in the interest of the flying public for the holiday season and allow voters to exercise their democratic right come Dec 18.

The SDMC has done a good job in managing the Covid-19 pandemic in Sarawak but it should not let itself be used as a political tool and cripple the constitutional rights of Sarawak voters. - FMT

A Concerned Sarawak Citizen is an FMT Reader.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT