Transport Minister: 291 Additional Domestic Flights Have Been Approved To Overcome Ticket Price Hike For CNY

Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook has announced that a total of 291 additional flights for various domestic destinations have been approved by the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) for the upcoming Chinese New Year celebrations. These additional flights were introduced in a bid to overcome the issue of flight fare hikes during festive periods and will be implemented during other festive seasons moving forward.

As reported by Bernama, Loke said that the additional flights were for the travel period from 18 to 31 January 2023 and involves several airlines. These include AirAsia, Batik Air, Malaysia Airlines, MyAirlines and SKS Airways.

Loke asserted,

“This (additional flights) is an effective approach to deal with the flight fare hike during festive seasons which has been an unsolved issue for quite some time. This approach will also be used during other festive seasons, including Hari Raya,”

The Transport Minister was quoted as saying the above during a press conference in Sepang after launching Batik Air’s additional flights to Sabah and Sarawak and new destinations to Japanese cities yesterday (6 January 2023). Speaking of which, Batik Air launched 35 additional flights to East Malaysia at a fixed price fare of RM299 to Kuching and RM399 to Kota Kinabalu. Moreover, the airline is also offering 42 additional flights from Subang Skypark to Johor Baharu, Penang, Kota Bharu and Langkawi at a fixed fare of RM259 one way.

So, what do you guys think of this initiative by the Transport Ministry? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.

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