Abdul Karim: AirBorneo’s pricing must be sustainable for operations, negative reactions premature

KUCHING (Dec 12): Negative reactions to AirBorneo’s newly-announced launch fares have been called premature as the airline has yet to begin operations.

Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Minister Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah stressed that ticket prices must remain sustainable for the airline to operate.

“The planes have not even taken off yet and people are already complaining. Give it a chance,” he told a press conference here.

He was responding to complaints from travellers and industry players, who felt the fares were too high and needed reviewing to better support domestic mobility and tourism growth.

Abdul Karim emphasised that fare-setting in the aviation industry involves multiple considerations and cannot be lowered excessively at the expense of operational viability.

“There is no point to bring down the fare right up to the minimum until AirBorneo ‘sik terkabei’ (is unable) to operate. There has to be a balance,” he said.

He added that pricing also needed to consider the wider aviation ecosystem and ensure that AirBorneo’s rates do not unintentionally drive away other airlines serving Sarawak.

“We have to balance it out with our fellow airlines. If we lower it to the point that other airlines run away and no longer want to come to Sarawak, it will be a loss.

“Everybody wants to use AirBorneo then the one who will suffer will be us also,” he said.

Responding to online complaints regarding routes such as Sibu–Kota Kinabalu and Sibu–Kuching, where some travellers felt fares of over RM200 were “too high”, Abdul Karim said perceptions of affordability differ among passengers.

“What is the ideal price? Is it RM100? RM200? RM250? It depends.

“To some, RM200-plus might be okay. To others, it might not be okay. It’s very difficult to satisfy everybody,” he said.

He also compared the fare to the cost of going by road to those destinations.

“All this while, if we travel from Sibu to Kuching, we usually drive ourselves they might pay RM50 for fuel, still have to pay. But they have to drive for five hours.

“When you are just travelling within half an hour, you have to pay a little bit extra,” he said.

Abdul Karim reiterated that public judgement over whether the fares are low or high remains “very, very subjective”, adding that affordability varies between income groups.

“That is why I say whether the fare is low or not is very, very subjective. For businessmen, RM250, that is peanuts to them. Maybe for farmers, RM250 might not be,” he said.

He urged the public to allow the system time to stabilise.

“Patience. Wait for the system to settle, the plane to be there, then after a while the price will get adjusted by itself,” he added.