Wee: MOT's answer on exorbitant airfares 'hard pill to swallow'

 

The Transport Ministry’s “standard answers” on issues pertaining to exorbitant flight tickets have been deemed a hard pill for the people to swallow.

Former transport minister Wee Ka Siong said it was disappointing that the ministry responded it has no control over airfares and that prices are determined by a dynamic mechanism.

He earlier revealed that an economy ticket price for a return trip from Kuala Lumpur to Tawau, Sabah, in conjunction with Hari Raya Aidilfitri, costs a whopping RM3,138.

“This is something shocking and disappointing to the people, especially those who are public transport users,” he said in a Facebook post today.

“How are the B40 and M40 community, especially those from Tawau who are in the Peninsular, going to celebrate the festive season this year?”

The MCA president pointed out that the aviation sector has gradually recovered from the Covid-19 pandemic and most of the aircraft are no longer grounded like before.

“Airlines have no excuses not to increase flight frequency as long as there is capacity and passenger load is no longer capped at 50 percent like during the pandemic, which justified the high airfare.

“Currently, there are no more restrictions due to the pandemic or maintenance, repair, or operations (MRO) but the airfare for Kuala Lumpur to Tawau and vice versa costs as much as RM3,138 per person.

“Moreover, flight frequency is no longer controlled by the Sabah or Sarawak State Disaster Management Committee and MYAirline has started operations since Dec 1, 2022 while Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) has also approved many flights just like before the pandemic.”

Therefore, he called on airline operators to reconsider the high airfares and be considerate as this has caused a huge burden on the people.

“Please do not give the impression that the airlines are out to recover losses suffered during the pandemic within a short period of time by exploiting the current situation and imposing higher airfares,” he stressed.

Govt intervention

During his tenure, Wee reportedly said the government would not intervene in the setting of domestic flight prices.

“Since 2006, we’ve allowed the competition to fix the prices. Now with the Covid-19 pandemic and the sudden shutdown of the industry, these companies had to take a huge loss,” he was reported as saying in Parliament in November 2021.

Meanwhile, Wee’s successor Anthony Loke was reported as saying in December that the ministry does not have plans to impose a ceiling price for flight tickets as such measures would have an adverse effect on air passengers.

Loke said it was better for airlines to increase the frequency of flights to reduce dynamic pricing. - Mkini