SEPANG: It is not easy for airline operators to manipulate ticket flight prices during the festive season to benefit from the government's subsidy initiative, said Transport Minister Anthony Loke.
He said that a thorough audit process was put in place to check claims from airlines, while the prices were being monitored by the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom).
“We know exactly each particular flight, how many seats are sold at what price and you (airlines) cannot artificially increase the prices, because they have an algorithm and pricing mechanism.
“They cannot hike the price and claim from the government. No, it will not happen that way,” he told a press conference, after announcing AirAsia's fixed ticket prices to Sabah and Sarawak for the upcoming Chinese New Year here today.
AirAsia offers fixed fares for flights to Sabah at RM348 one-way and to Sarawak at RM298. The booking period starts today till Feb 15, and the travel period will be from Feb 5 to Feb 15.
Loke said that AirAsia claimed RM2 million from the government for the subsidy initiative in conjunction with Christmas last year, which benefitted 5,000 passengers, and the government spent an average of RM400 in subsidy for each passenger on AirAsia during the period.
On Dec 15 last year, Loke announced that the government has agreed to subsidise the purchase of economy class flight tickets exceeding RM599 for a one-way trip from the Peninsula to Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan, for three days before the major festive seasons of Aidilfitri, Chinese New Year, Kaamatan, Gawai Day and Christmas.
Loke, meanwhile, said there will be no additional allocation for the implementation of the subsidy initiative, as the funds utilised are from the savings and unused allocation in the Transport Ministry last year.
“No additional allocation if you check the Budget 2024. There is no specific allocation for this initiative, but (we) found a creative way to do it. We have the funds to support this,” he said. -Bernama
