In a Facebook post, the MCA president said the high airfares are a huge burden to the people, especially those from the B40 and M40 groups who are heading back to their hometowns to celebrate Hari Raya Aidilfitri.

“I guess the standard answer from the government will be that the airfares are determined by a dynamic pricing mechanism and that they have no control over the airfares.

“However, no matter who the current government is, such an answer by the transport ministry would be a hard pill to swallow for the people,” he said.

Wee said he was shocked and disappointed after discovering that an economy class return ticket from Kuala Lumpur to Tawau on April 20 would cost RM3,138.

He cited how when the borders were reopened on April 1, last year, domestic airfares were set above RM1,000 as not many aircraft were allowed to operate.

“Airlines have no excuse not to increase flight frequency (now) as long as there is capacity and passenger load is no longer capped at 50% like it was during the pandemic, which could have justified the higher airfare,” he said.

On April 8, FMT reported that the transport ministry had approved an additional 527 flights for Hari Raya Aidilfitri to meet demands. This will see a 43% increase in flight capacity when compared to the same festive period last year.

Of the additional 527 flights, 390 involve flights from the peninsula to Sabah and Sarawak, with 118 flights from the peninsula to Kota Kinabalu and the rest to Kuching (102), Tawau (70), Sibu (34), Sandakan (32), Miri (20) and Bintulu (14).

These flights are in addition to the 5,617 initial flights scheduled within Peninsular Malaysia, 2,149 between the peninsula and Sarawak, and 2,033 between the peninsula and Sabah.