SIBU: Lanang MP Alice Lau has urged the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) and the relevant parties to study the “unreasonable” air fares from Kuala Lumpur to Sarawak.
“Crazy! I want to go back to Sibu next week. The return flight from Kuala Lumpur to Sibu for economy class costs RM5,307.20!” she first posted on her social media account.
Then, in her next post, she said, “Okay, I’ve found a cheaper flight ticket. But it takes a long transit (in Kuching) and costs RM2,484.61. Acceptable?”.
According to Lau, the frequency of flights from Kuala Lumpur to Sarawak is still very limited, and this made it difficult for the public, especially Sarawakians who wanted to return to their hometowns.
She urged the authorities to look into the matter immediately as the state government had promised airfares at standard prices.
She also claimed that the prices of air tickets offered by all airlines at this time are “too expensive.”
A check on the Malaysia Airlines website revealed that for the Kuala Lumpur to Sibu route, only one flight (Nov 3) was available between Oct 28 and Nov 4 and each seat cost RM1,599.
In the parliamentary session today (Oct 27), Lau said she had voiced the matter (in written form) to Transport Minister Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong which would be answered tomorrow.
Meanwhile, in a recent news report, Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Henry Sum Agong announced that the prices of domestic flight tickets from Kuala Lumpur to Sabah and Sarawak would return to standard prices when the number of flights operate as usual.
He also said the high flight ticket prices were due to the limitation of flight capacity by the Sarawak government which was part of its efforts to curb Covid-19.
Lau is currently in Kuala Lumpur to attend the 2022 Budget Session and intends to return to Sibu on Nov 4.
