Sabah PAS man sets out ways to cope with surging airfares

A Sabah PAS leader has suggested several measures for the federal government to tackle the soaring airfares to East Malaysia. Mustaman Mustain, the PAS information chief, highlighted that air travel has become a vital need for Sabahans, particularly lower-income groups, who travel to Peninsular Malaysia for work, education, and emergencies.

Among his proposals are a special fare scheme for family emergencies, extending festive season flight subsidies to other peak periods such as school holidays and semester breaks, reserving flight capacity at reasonable fares on East-West routes during high-demand periods, and implementing advance purchase schemes or block bookings on critical routes like Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan to Tawau.

Mustaman emphasized that a fare scheme for family emergencies would assist families forced to cancel trips to attend funerals due to high fares, and instances of families being stranded in their hometowns for nearly two months due to expensive airfares. Additionally, students were concerned about not being able to return to their universities because of the soaring travel costs.

The issue of expensive airfares between East and West Malaysia has surged over 200%, Mustaman stated in response to a news report about the price increase. He also suggested that the government should establish a system to detect abnormal price surges early to take prompt action. Recently, Sabah and Sarawak affairs minister Mustapha Sakmud revealed that his ministry would discuss with the transport ministry to find solutions to address the sudden increase in flight fares in the two states, citing a rise in airlines' operating costs following the global energy crisis.