Last Minute Seats To East Malaysia Still Available Says Loke

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Transport minister Loke Siew Fook presenting Hari Raya goodies to passengers of a Batik Air flight to Tawau at KLIA Terminal 1 today. (Bernama pic)
SEPANG: Government intervention has enabled airfares for festive season flights from the peninsula to East Malaysia to be kept more affordable, says transport minister Loke Siew Fook.
The minister added that there were still empty seats up for grabs for flights to East Malaysia this year, which meant those seeking to make last-minute travel plans for Raya could still do so.
Loke said the efforts of airlines to increase their frequency of flights also helped lower airfares, with ticket prices much more under control and not overly expensive. He reiterated that Putrajaya would only subsidise airfares if flight tickets went above RM499.
“Thank you to all parties involved in this initiative,” he told reporters at KLIA here after sending off passengers flying to East Malaysia for the Aidilfitri season.
Malaysia Airlines and Firefly had allocated more than 200 additional flights during the Ramadan and Hari Raya Aidilfitri peak travel period.
The airlines also offered fixed all-in one-way fares starting from RM389 to Sabah and RM319 to Sarawak for specific red-eye flights.
Budget airline AirAsia also offered discounted one-way fares of below RM400 for flights from West Malaysia to Sarawak, Sabah, and Labuan during Hari Raya.
May reopening for Aerotrain?
Loke hinted that KLIA’s aerotrain service, which has been suspended since March 2023, would resume operations in May. However, he remained non-committal.
“We will announce it when we have a confirmed date, but it will probably be in May,” he said.
In January, Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd said the shuttle train service in KLIA Terminal 1 was expected to be operational in the second quarter of this year. Loke previously expressed dissatisfaction with MAHB over apparent inefficiencies and delays in getting the service back on track.
The driverless trains are capable of ferrying passengers from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2 in three minutes. The airport currently uses 37 buses to shuttle passengers between the two terminals. - FMT

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