AIRASIA will add midnight flights from January 31 to February 12, with tickets prices fixed at set rates from RM99 to RM199 one way to cater for the peak Chinese New Year season.

Transport Minister Anthony Loke said rates for flights seven days before and after Chinese New Year would be fixed so the public could travel at lower fares.

“The more the supply, the more the prices of normal schedule flights will be lowered. Once we have more supply, it will bring the prices down overall.

“This will help Malaysians, especially from Sabah and Sarawak, go back home for the festive season with lower fares. It will help many,” he said at the launch of the programme in Sepang today.

AirAsia Group chief executive officer Tony Fernandes, meanwhile, said the ministry had asked AirAsia to help lower the cost of travel for the public during peak festival periods.

“The minister asked me how to lower fares. Obviously, CNY flights have the highest fares but we have been able to reduce the fares going forward as the cheapest flights are midnight flights.

“This gives the public affordable fares to go back to Miri, Sibu, Penang and Kota Kinabalu,” he said.

Fernandes said the additional midnight flights will have an additional 43,500 seats each,

“It may not seem like a lot, but we are putting up 43,500 seats for the additional late night flights, in addition to the existing 22,000 seats.

“This means that we will have 65,000 seats available for the Chinese New Year period…so there is a lot of capacity to bring the fares down.

“One of the best ways to bring the fares down is by having more flights,” he said. 

One-way flights will be fixed at RM99 from Kuala Lumpur to Penang; Kuala Lumpur to Miri, Sibu and Kuching (RM149); and, Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu (RM199).

Kuala Lumpur-Penang flights will be scheduled every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at 10.50pm, while return flights from Penang will be set on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at 12.15am.

AirAsia will fly from Kuala Lumpur to Kuching, Kota Kinabalu, Sibu and Miri daily, and will leave KLIA2 at 11.20pm, 10.45pm, 11.15pm and 11.00pm, respectively. Return journeys are set at 1.35am, 1.50am, 1.40am and 1.45am, respectively. – November 21, 2018.