With the Hari Raya festive season fast approaching, many are scrambling for tickets to go back home, whether it be by bus, flight, or train. In the case of flights, it seems that low-cost carrier AirAsia has managed to sell more than 80% of its additional flights for the period from 19 to 22 April.
For context, the airline announced extra flights for the Raya season for the travel period between 19 April to 1 May, specifically flying between East and West Malaysia. What’s more, these flights have fixed fares to combat the usual issue of bombastic prices driven up by demand during holiday periods.
AirAsia Malaysia chief executive officer Riad Asmat said that as of 13 April, it had sold about 82% of the extra 11,400 seats for the period. He added that among the most sought-after routes were Kuala Lumpur – Tawau, Johor Bahru – Kuching, Johor Bahru – Sibu, and Kuala Lumpur – Kuching.
A one-way flight to Sarawak costs RM199 while those flying to Sabah have to cough up RM249, but these are relatively low prices compared to some of the ridiculous prices that have been reported. Some routes have been found to have cost over RM4,000 for a round-trip flight.
The newest low-cost airline, MYAirline, also saw a boost in ticket sales as it said that between 85 to 90% of its tickets for all destinations have been sold in conjunction with Raya. With the increased demand, the carrier will be adding two additional flights from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Bharu from 19 April to 21 April.
To address the issue of hiked-up flight prices, Transport Minister announced last week that it will introduce special flight prices for IPTA students to travel between East Malaysia and the Peninsula. The programme will be subsidised by the government but with one week to go before Raya, the minister has yet to reveal any details.
(Source: Bernama)
