KUALA LUMPUR, May 24 — The Transport Ministry has asked airline companies to increase the number of domestic flights especially during the current festive season for passengers to have pricing options.
Its minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook said that when flight ticket offers were higher, then the average price of a flight would also drop slightly.
“The prices are usually high when there are only a few seats left on a flight. Not every seat on the flight can fetch a high price.
“It (ticket price) increases when there is a high demand and when there are only a few seats available (in a flight), then the price is bound to increase,” he said when asked to comment on charges regarding the prices of airline tickets for domestic flights ahead of Aidilfitri early next month.
Loke said this after launching Ekspres Musafir at the Integrated Bus Terminal, here today. Also present were the Land Public Transport Agency (APAD) director-general Azlan Shah Parames Albakri and Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros) director-general Siti Zaharah Ishak.
On the ceiling price recommendation for an airline ticket, Loke said that if the government implemented ceiling prices during festive seasons, it would affect the average price on normal days.
“I know there are various proposals for us to have a ceiling price. We have talked about this and I have said this many times to the media, that should we take such a measure, the airlines will raise ticket prices on normal days,” he said.
In another development, Loke said the ministry was still waiting for a complete audit report from Miros, APAD and the police on the accident involving a Mybus, a stage bus and a Nissan X-Trail a sports utility vehicle at Jalan Pantai-Bukit Tangga, Jelebu, yesterday.
A student died and 37 others were injured in the 3.45pm accident. — Bernama
