KUALA LUMPUR: The FLYsiswa initiative, which offers subsidised flight tickets to public university students for domestic routes between the peninsula, Sabah, Sarawak and the Federal Territory of Labuan will be made an annual initiative by the Ministry of Transport.
Minister Anthony Loke said the decision was made in a Cabinet meeting on Sept 3, which reflected the government’s commitment to strengthen regional integration between the Peninsula, Sabah, Sarawak and the Federal Territory of Labuan and foster national unity in line with the spirit of the Federation of Malaysia.
“This initiative is to reduce the financial burden of students returning to their hometowns, especially for those with no alternative means of transport other than air travel.
“For 2025, flight ticket subsidies, including the FLYsiswa initiative and festive season ticket subsidies have been included in Budget 2025 with an estimated expenditure of RM48 million,“ he said during a question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat today.
He was replying to a question from Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal (Warisan-Semporna) who wanted to know whether the ministry plans to maintain FLYsiswa as an annual and continuous initiative, as opposed to a one-off or ‘announcement’ initiative.
Loke added that the subsidy is implemented through a credit shell method (an open ticket) where local airlines will issue a digital voucher worth RM300 to each eligible student to be redeemed for the purchase of flight tickets for domestic routes between Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah, Sarawak and the Federal Territory of Labuan.
He said a total of 52,030 students are eligible for this subsidy this year, including 22,226 (or 42.7 per cent) students from Sabah and 19,171 (36.8 per cent) from Sarawak.
“Among the students from Sabah, 17,388 are studying in public universities, polytechnics and community colleges, matriculation and teacher education institutes (IPG) in the peninsula, 3,433 in Sarawak and 1,405 in the Federal Territory of Labuan.
“For students from Sarawak, 16,027 are studying in the peninsula, 2,716 in Sabah and 428 in Labuan. As of Nov 4, 2024, as many as 35,183 out of 52,030 eligible students or 68 per cent have redeemed FLYsiswa vouchers,” he said.
