The subsidy will also apply to those in the Federal Territory of Labuan, he said.

Loke said his ministry had discussed the matter with the higher education ministry, the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) and several airlines to fine-tune the initiative.

“This initiative is expected to benefit some 56,000 students in local universities and cost RM16.8 million,” he said at a press conference here.

He said the initiative would be implemented using the “credit shell” method where the airline company would issue digital vouchers worth RM300 to eligible students.

Loke added that the initiative would begin on Aug 15 and the last day to redeem the voucher would be on Oct 31 of this year.

“However, students can book their flights for dates after Oct 31. For instance, if they want to fly in January that is okay as long as they redeem the voucher before the deadline.”

He also said students could only redeem the voucher once but if the flight ticket was less than RM300, the remaining amount could be used for another flight.

“However, the students will have to top up for the next ticket if the remaining amount isn’t enough.”

Loke also said the allocation for this initiative was from the ministry’s internal coffers and part of it was also covered by Mavcom.

If the initiative proved to be successful, his ministry would discuss its future implementation with the finance ministry.

“We heard the complaints of students and this is the unity government’s efforts to relieve the burden faced by them.”

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