Gov’t to impose fare ceiling for domestic flights, says Aziz Kaprawi

PARLIAMENT | The government is in the midst of drafting the ceiling price to control the airfares for domestic flights.

Deputy Transport Minister Abdul Aziz Kaprawi said through the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom), the ceiling price plan was expected to be completed before the middle of this year.

“We will establish the ceiling price for domestic flight tickets, and thus far, we do not control everything. However, this time the government will control the fares for domestic flights,” he said this during the question and answer session at the Dewan Rakyat today.

He was replying to question by Oscar Ling Chai Yew (DAP-Sibu) on Mavcom’s role in controlling the airfares, as well as the measures implemented by the government to address the pricey air tickets for domestic routes particularly the Kuala Lumpur-Sibu stretch during the festive seasons.

Aziz said the move was implemented following complaints received on the expensive flight tickets especially during the festive seasons, apart from the study carried out by Mavcom that showed five-fold increase of airfares during the period.

He said currently the government did not set any rule regarding the fare and allowed the airlines to set the fare based on their respective commercial decisions.

- Bernama