KUALA LUMPUR: AirAsia, AirAsia X and Batik Air have increased the number of seats for routes to Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan by 139,578, the Dewan Rakyat was told today (Oct 28).
Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Hasbi Habibollah said this in response to a reduction in capacity by Malaysia Airlines.
Malaysia Airlines Bhd reduced its capacity by 95,906 seats from August to December this year.
Hasbi said the temporary cancellations for affected flights from August to December had already been communicated to passengers, with most of the notification process having been completed.
"Now, MAB is operating as usual and only cancels flights in cases of force majeure, which involves the need to cancel flights for safety reasons due to bad weather or advice from local and international aviation authorities concerning specific flight routes," he said.
Hasbi was replying to queries from Mohamad Shafizan Kepli (GPS-Batang Lupar), Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin (BN-Kinabatangan) and Chiew Choon Man (PH-Miri).
He said for passengers affected by the cancellation of MAB flights, the airline had provided rebooking options, including rescheduling flights to one day before or after the original departure date or the next available flight.
"The rescheduling option offered is for any available MAB flights. If no MAB flights are available, new tickets will be provided using other airlines.
"Once passengers are informed about the rescheduling plan, they still have the option to accept, modify, or request a refund."
He said a total of 1.42 million seats were being offered by local airlines this month, for flight services for routes to Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan.
Regarding high flight ticket prices during peak season, Hasbi said the ministry had held discussions with the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) and local airline companies to ensure that the prices of airline tickets were competitively priced.
"As a result of discussions, the airlines have agreed to increase flight capacity from time to time depending on demand.
"The ministry through Mavcom will continue monitoring flight ticket prices for all domestic flight routes including the route between Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan.
"To get a cheap ticket price, especially during the festival season, users are encouraged to buy flight tickets as early as possible," he said.