SEPANG: Airline companies should increase flight frequency, especially during festive seasons, to ensure flight tickets are affordable, says Anthony Loke (pic).
The Transport Minister said if airline companies increased the number of flights, supply and demand would reach a state of balance and reduce dynamic pricing.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM), he said, had also given its commitment to extend operating hours for airports and air traffic control towers, especially in Sabah and Sarawak to support the increase.
At present, airports in Sabah and Sarawak operate until about 11pm daily.
“One of the issues affecting the people is the price of flight tickets, especially those who need to travel to Sabah and Sarawak during festive seasons,” he told reporters after a working visit to Kuala Lumpur Air Traffic Control Centre yesterday.
Loke said CAAM had given its commitment to extend operation hours a week before the Chinese New Year and the week after the celebrations, as well as during other festivities.
With this, he said, airline companies should no longer give excuses not to increase flight frequency.
“We would also monitor airline companies that delay their flights regularly,” he said.
On another matter, Loke said the aviation industry would see much-needed improvement as flights are expected to be shortened between 18 to 22 minutes after the Standard Departure Routes and Standard Landing Routes system is implemented at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport and KLIA 2, starting May 18 next year.
He said airlines operating at KLIA are also expected to be able to save up to RM500mil in fuel per year due to shorter flight times and through optimising KLIA’s maximum landing and take-off capacity of 108 aircraft per hour.
“This is a huge savings to airline companies. Not only will it help the aviation industry, it will also reduce its carbon footprint and contribute towards mitigating climate change,” he said.
