Loke: Transport Ministry’s fixed airfare initiative for festive season will continue

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 16): Fixed airfares during the festive period will continue, Transport Minister Anthony Loke said.

He said this was one of the selective interventions carried out by the government based on the understanding that there is an issue with flight tickets.

“For festive seasons, we encourage airlines to add midnight flights.

“We will facilitate,” Loke told Parliament during his winding-up speech for his ministry on the Supply Bill for Budget 2024 at the committee stage today.

He cited the Gawai festive period as an example of selective intervention by the government, whereby it bought unsold seats and asked airlines to sell them at a fixed price.

“We will do something similar as to what was done for Sabah and Sarawak, because they surely need to rely on airlines to balik kampung,” Loke said, adding that the government is trying its best to address expensive airfares.

Even without an allocation, Loke said the ministry had utilised its excess budget and channelled it towards the RM300 voucher for students who were travelling to Sabah and Sarawak.

Meanwhile, on train services, Loke revealed that KTM Komuter’s northern sector route will see an increased frequency, after an additional six coaches are purchased by the government.

“The Transport Ministry is in the midst of procuring 10 sets of ETS (Electric Train Services) for the southern sector route and six commuter coaches for the northern sector to increase the train frequency.

“The north-bound train from Kuala Lumpur has the highest ridership, so we are working on increasing the frequency, along with other improvements that will benefit passengers,” he said.

As for the Skypark Link, Loke said the facility will be revived once the regeneration of Subang Airport is completed in three years’ time.

“We will revive (the facility) but with a new model and we will discuss with the relevant parties how the Skypark Link should operate.

“We don’t want to waste the track. We will look at another operation model,” he said. – Malay Mail