AirAsia has issued a statement on the recent brouhaha over airfare prices which points to exorbitant hikes without justifications. This prompted Transport Minister Dr Wee Ka Siong to issue a stern warning to all airlines to reduce airfares immediately. (see report published by BT)
The low-cost airline is supposedly being accused of charging high fares for flights between Peninsular Malaysia and Sarawak for the upcoming Christmas and holiday season that coincides with the State election, claims that it has no intention to raise prices. But due to frequency issues, the cost of managing flights is burdening if they are low. For instance, AirAsia use to fly 88 flights to Kuching from KL but that was reduced to 21 until recently where its flying 35 flights, a substantial reduction from earlier days.
It has been continuously engaging the Ministry of Transport Sarawak (MOTS) and submitted applications to permanently increase its scheduled flight frequencies on several occasions since early this year, including the latest request submitted last week which included the operation of extra flights for the upcoming holiday season, Christmas and Chinese New Year.
Which only after ticking from the Minister has the MOTS and the Sarawak State Disaster Management Committee added an additional 42 weekly flights a limited period of 4 December 2021 up until 5 January 2022. This move has subsequently brought the fares down from around RM1,000 one way to below RM200 for a Kuala Lumpur to Kuching flight.
Riad Asmat, CEO of AirAsia Malaysia said: “Historically, our average fare for flights between Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia has been around RM160 per one-way passenger. AirAsia’s pricing model is similar to other airlines world over and is based on supply and demand.”
He added that as a general rule, fares will be higher, closer to the travel date, and during peak holiday periods when our flights are already near full. The limitation on the number of flights available in the market is a key factor that has pushed the prices higher across all airlines.
