SEPANG: The Ministry of Transport is examining mechanisms to overcome the problem of expensive flight ticket prices prior to all festive seasons, especially for routes to and from Sabah and Sarawak.

Transport Minister Anthony Loke said he was given a mandate by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim during the last Cabinet meeting to be responsible for finding a solution to the issue.

"The ministry is also looking for ways and initiatives to solve this problem not only for the celebration of Hari Raya but also other festivals such as Chinese New Year and Hari Gawai.

"In fact, almost two months ago, various plans and discussions were made, such as increasing the ticket quota since March, to overcome this problem," he told reporters after presenting Aidilfitri contributions to passengers at Kuala Lumpur International Airport Terminal 2, tonight.

In addition, he said the ministry was also planning a similar initiative to help students returning to their hometowns not only during the festive season, but also during semester breaks.

He said the target group for the initiative would first be students from Public Institutions of Higher Education (IPTA), adding that the students involved were identified through a collaboration with the Ministry of Higher Education.

"This (mechanism) is also being refined but the main thing is that we have identified and obtained data on students from Sabah and Sarawak who are studying in the peninsula.

"The same goes for students from the peninsula who are studying in the two states. There are more than 50,000 in this group," he said.

-- BERNAMA