He told the Dewan Rakyat that one-way economy class tickets cost between RM100 and RM1,235 for flights between Jan 18 and 26.

For Jan 20 and 21, tickets were priced from RM210 to RM1,400, he said, citing a Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) study on Sept 14.

“From the price range, the majority of one-way economy class flight tickets to Sabah and Sarawak were observed to be below RM400,” he said in response to a question from Alice Lau (PH-Lanang).

Chinese New Year falls on Jan 22.

Responding to related questions from Wan Hassan Mohd Ramli (PAS-Dungun) and Bung Moktar Radin (BN-Kinabatangan), Henry said tickets for rural air services within Sarawak remain under a price ceiling set by the government in 2011, which has not been increased since then.

He also said the government encouraged airlines to increase their flight capacities during festive seasons for high-demand routes such as Kuala Lumpur-Sibu, Penang-Sibu and Johor Bahru-Sibu.

“The decision to increase the (flight) frequency to these destinations, however, remains a decision by players in accordance with the commercial viability of the route,” he said.

Currently, there are 35 flights a week for Kuala Lumpur-Sibu, one for Penang-Sibu and seven for Johor Bahru-Sibu.