SEPANG: The Transport Ministry has no plans to impose a ceiling price for flight tickets because such a thing would have an adverse affect on air passengers.
Minister Anthony Loke said it was better for airlines to increase the frequency of flights to reduce dynamic pricing.
He said the ministry was always ready to help airline companies to provide better connectivity to allow the public to travel by flight to most destinations.
"Flight frequency depends on the capacities of the respective airlines. Not every airline has more than 100 aircraft.
"If there is a ceiling price, the airlines will reduce their capacities as they would not want to operate if they are making losses. This will result in lesser flights for everyone.
"This is why we are encouraging (airlines) to add more flights to make it more affordable. Of course, there will be a surge (in prices) during festive seasons, but the prices are affordable in normal times," Loke told a press conference at the AirAsia RedQ here today.
He said the aviation industry is faced with challenges in the post-pandemic era, which caused them to operate at a reduced capacity.
"It is understood that AirAsia is only operating at 50 per cent. More than half of their aircraft are still grounded due to lockdowns in these past years.
"It will take some time to get these aircraft flying again because it must go through maintenance. But that requires efforts and funds."
Loke said it was also hoped that the aviation industry players would be able to minimise the number of flight delays to avoid grouses by customers.
He said this following a highly-publicised flight delay incident involving Batik Air, which left passengers stranded overnight.
When asked about a possibility of giving cash refunds to the affected passengers, Loke said the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) would be the proper channel to address the matter.
"We have a system in place, and this is the platform for everyone to lodge complaints.
"Some of these delays were due to bad weather conditions. We hope that communications between customers and the company can be better.
"This includes the handling of passengers, arrangements that could be made, their needs or accommodation. These can be improved," he said.