Airfares cut by over 30% after Mavcom efforts, says transport ministry

Prices of flight tickets have been reduced by over 30% since the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) agreed to cooperate in lowering the rates during the festive season.

Transport ministry secretary-general Isham Ishak however said the commission would issue a detailed statement on its efforts to look into the reduced fares.

“Some people say that the price (of flight tickets) has increased by 70% but we have managed to reduce the rate and prices have already gone down as of this morning.

“This is because we have managed to increase flight frequency by having the planes redeployed to focus on this sector,” he told reporters after an event at KL Sentral today.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob reminded airline operators not to make excessive profits by raising the price of flight tickets to Sabah and Sarawak exorbitantly during the festive season.

The issue had been a hot topic of late after the price displayed on an airline’s website wa said to have increased to RM2,000 for return flights to Sabah or Sarawak, compared to the usual price of RM300 for the same trip.