Transport Minister Anthony Loke said the government remains committed to ensuring that airfares between Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysian states will be kept affordable during the holiday season.
Loke acknowledged complaints from Malaysians on exorbitant flight ticket prices.
“This (issue of costly flight ticket prices) is not a new problem; every year it happens during the festive season.
“We acknowledge that there is still a problem and the ministry will continue to look for ways to increase flight capacities and reduce airfares,” Loke told a press conference at KL Sentral Station today.
Loke noted that those who chose to buy flight tickets prior to the holiday season were able to secure tickets at better prices.
“Of course, when you check (flight ticket prices) at the last minute (especially in) these last few days, you will see prices rising.
“However, those who bought their tickets earlier on had no issue and (paid) more affordable prices,” he added.
Recently, Loke, who is also DAP secretary-general, and former transport minister Wee Ka Siong have been ensnared in a row over the rising cost of domestic flights.
This came after Wee claimed that ticket prices from Kuala Lumpur to Tawau from MAS reached a whopping RM3,138 on April 20.
To back his claims, Wee referred to the AirAsia Super App which displayed the exorbitant ticket prices for MAS flights.
Yesterday, Loke countered this with claims that the ticket prices Wee cited were not for economy class but for business class, taking a swipe at the latter for not advising the public to check multiple sources before purchasing flight tickets to get the cheapest prices.
Checks by Malaysiakini on the AirAsia website yesterday, for the same direct route, showed RM3,138 for some of the flights on April 20, with RM2,222 being the lowest priced tickets. The prices are labelled for economy class.
However, when checked on the MAS website, it only showed results for business class tickets starting from RM2,863.37. - Mkini
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