MALAYSIA Airlines, Firefly and MASwings are offering discounted fares of up to 24% to help voters travel home to cast their ballots for the general election (GE). 

Malaysia Airlines, in launching its “Jom Balik Mengundi” campaign, is offering discounted fares up to 20% while Firefly is offering discounts of up to 24% for its jet flights and 10% for turbo-prop ATR-operated flights.

Firefly’s promotion is available for booking until October 24, for travel from November 1 to June 30 next year.

For the “Jom Balik Mengundi” campaign, Malaysia Airlines in a statement said passengers can book the tickets until November 19 for travel between November 11 and 27.

The 20% discount applies to all fare categories: Lite, Basic and Flex for economy class, and Basic and Flex for business class.

MASwings passengers travelling from Miri to Mulu, Sandakan to Lahad Datu and Bintulu to Sibu can book flights starting at RM135 all-in for one-way trips, the airline stated.

All three airlines are also mounting additional flights during the GE, with Malaysia Airlines adding 26 additional flights and operating 16 domestic flights with wide-body A330 aircraft to meet increasing demand on several routes in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak. 

Firefly Airlines stated it will mount 70 additional flights from Subang and Penang to selected domestic routes from November 17 to 20 with Malaysia Aviation Group chief executive officer Izham Ismail stating MASwings is also “prepared to meet the increase in travel”. 

Yesterday, Transport Minister Wee Ka Siong said the price of flight tickets will be monitored by the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) to ensure airlines do not arbitrarily raise prices.

“Mavcom can intervene if airlines have unreasonably increased prices of flight tickets,” he was reported as saying.

Passengers planning to fly home to vote were up in arms after online prices of flight tickets during election weekend were found to be as high as RM500 for the Kuala Lumpur to Kuching route for one.

Malaysia goes to the polls on November 19, with early polling on November 15. – October 21, 2022.