KUALA LUMPUR: A 43% increase in flights has been approved for this year's Hari Raya Aidilfitri period compared to last year, says the Transport Ministry.
The ministry said through the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) that it has approved 527 additional flights for this festive period.
"The measure is to cope with the high demand. In line with the global airline industry, normal ticket fares are based on dynamic pricing. Consumers who purchase their tickets early at a time of high availability, will enjoy lower prices," it said.
"However, prices can become expensive when only a handful of tickets are left in the market," the ministry added in a statement on Saturday (April 8).
It said that since early Maric, it had been taking proactive steps through Mavcom to encourage airlines to offer reasonably-priced flight tickets.
"Mavcom has facilitated and approved all additional capacity requests by airlines in offering fixed fares to key destinations within Malaysia. It has approved additional flights in general to address the high demand and lower airfares," it added.
The ministry said that the fixed-price tickets were sold at a rapid pace and that the normal fare flights saw a high take-up rate that led to increased prices for the remaining seats.
"Even though the airlines have increased their capacity, it is still insufficient to meet the high demand which prompted the ministry and Mavcom to intervene for a second round," it said.
The ministry said that this led to discussions with Malaysia Airlines Berhad (MAB), with them committing to increasing its capacity.
It confirmed that 40 MAB flights will be upgraded to the Airbus A330 wide-body aircraft to cater to travellers from Kuala Lumpur to Kuching and the Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu sectors.
"The larger pool of available flight tickets has assisted in lowering the initial airfare prices. As a result of the interventions the additional capacity approved for domestic flights is 43.1% higher compared to the Hari Raya Aidilfitri festive period last year," said the ministry.
