Transport Minister: Govt to subsidise flight tickets for those travelling from peninsula to East Malaysia for Christmas

KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 15): The government has agreed to the proposal by the Transport Ministry to provide subsidies for the purchase of one-way economy class flight tickets that exceed RM599 from the peninsula to Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan from December 22 to 24 for the Christmas holidays.

Transport Minister Anthony Loke said that the subsidy policy will also be continued in 2024 for other festivals such as Chinese New Year, Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Pesta Keamatan, Hari Gawai and Christmas for three days respectively.

“Flight tickets that cost less than RM599 will be sold at the original price set by the airlines.

“Meanwhile, for economy class flight tickets that exceed RM599, the government will pay the price difference between the original price of the flight ticket and the maximum price,” he said in a statement.

The Transport Ministry explained that if ‘Mr A’ checks the price of an economy plane ticket cost at RM1,500 on December 23 from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu, ‘Mr A’ will only need to pay RM599 while the balance RM901 will be paid by the government.

In a different scenario, ‘Mr B’ checks the price of an economy plane ticket at RM450 on December 23 from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu, ‘Mr B’ will pay RM450, and no subsidy will be given from the government for that particular ticket.

Loke also said that the price of the subsidised one-way economy class flight ticket does not include taxes and fees.

“The implementation of this subsidy for the purchase of flight tickets for this year Christmas will start at 12.01am on December 16.

“The implementation of the same subsidy for other festivals in 2024, namely Chinese New Year, Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Pesta Keamatan, Hari Gawai and Christmas, will begin at 12.01am on January 1.

“The public can purchase the flight tickets starting from the dates mentioned through the websites of domestic airlines namely AirAsia, Firefly, Malaysia Airlines Berhad and Batik Air,” he said.

Among the terms and conditions of the flight ticket are: change of date or change of flight is not allowed and the ticket is only valid for the date of the flight shown on the ticket; change of passenger name in the ticket is not allowed; and tickets that have been purchased are non-refundable.

Loke said the government decided to provide the subsidies as those working in the peninsula had to pay more than RM1,000 for a one-way flight ticket to return to their hometown in Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan as flight services are the only mode of transportation.

He also said that the Transport Ministry through the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) has facilitated a total of 114 additional flights this Christmas between the peninsula and Sabah and Sarawak and Labuan. “This strategy has shown a positive effect where prices from Kuala Lumpur to the main destinations in Sabah and Sarawak have dropped between 5 per cent and 33 per cent as of this morning compared to last week,” he said. – Malay Mail