KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) says its latest observation on Oct 25 2022 indicated that most airfares during the 15th General Election (GE15) travelling period have decreased since the initial spike following the election announcement.
Mavcom completed its review of airfares for domestic flights operating from Nov 16-20 November 2022 in conjunction with Malaysia's upcoming GE15 on Nov 19 this year.
"One-way average domestic airfares across all airlines for routes within Peninsular Malaysia are RM185. Meanwhile, the average airfare for routes within Sabah and Sarawak is RM188 and RM296 for routes between Peninsular Malaysia and the two states," it said today.
Mavcom executive chairman Datuk Seri Saripuddin Kasim said airlines had introduced promotions and launched discounted airfares to facilitate this cause.
"There are also existing discount schemes offered by airlines specifically for student travellers which could aid travel for young voters.
"As evident, the industry has shown its support to facilitate voters fulfilling their civic duty and returning to their respective hometowns without the burden of high airfares. However, more can be done and airlines must continue to play their part for the nation during this critical period."
Mavcom's analysis further indicated that a small percentage of routes had airfares that were higher than average.
The commission urged airlines to induce more capacity on these routes during the GE15 travelling period as demand for these routes would most likely increase approaching the polling date.
"Mavcom has requested that airlines increase capacity on its operating routes during the GE15 travelling dates in ensuring that enough flights are available to various domestic destinations at an affordable price.
'As the economic and commercial regulator for the aviation industry, Mavcom is committed to facilitating and approving all route applications for GE15 in performing its mandate for the national interest."
Based on data submitted to Mavcom, all local scheduled airlines have planned extra flights for GE15 beginning November 2022 using the resources at their disposal.
The planned additional flights include 45 flights from KL International Airport (KLIA) to selected locations within Peninsular Malaysia.
For flights from Subang, 30 additional flights are planned to selected locations within Peninsular Malaysia.
In addition, 68 extra flights have been planned for flights between Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah and Sarawak.
Malaysia Airlines is planning to increase capacity to key destinations by utilising the Airbus A330 wide-body aircraft.
There are additional flights planned to selected destinations within Sabah and Sarawak under the Rural Air Services programme, as well as five planned additional flights between Subang and Seletar, Singapore.