KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Aviation Commission (MAVCOM) has observed that most airfares during the 15th General Election (GE15) travelling period have decreased since the initial spike following the GE15 announcement.

Based on the commission's review, one-way average domestic airfare across all airlines for routes within Peninsular Malaysia is RM185, while the average airfare for routes within East Malaysia is RM188, and RM296 for routes between Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia, it said in a statement today.

However, MAVCOM's analysis further indicates that a small percentage of routes have airfares that arehigher than average.

Therefore, the commission has urged airlines to provide more capacity on these routes during the GE15 travelling period as demand will most likely rise as the polling date approaches.

MAVCOM has requested airlines to raise capacity on its operating routes during the GE15 travelling dates to ensure sufficient and affordably-priced flights to various domestic destinations, the statement said.

"As the economic and commercial regulator for the aviation industry, MAVCOM is committed to facilitating and approving all route applications for GE15 in performing its mandate for national interest," it said.

Its chairman Datuk Seri Saripuddin Kasim said the commission is pleased to see that airlines have introduced promotions and launched discounted airfares to facilitate this cause.

"There are also existing discount schemes offered by airlines specifically for student travellers to aid travel for young voters," he said, adding that the industry has shown its support to facilitate voters to fulfil their civic duty by returning to their respective hometowns without the burden of high airfares.

"However, more can be done and airlines must continue to play their part for the nation during this critical period," he said.

Based on data submitted to MAVCOM, all local scheduled airlines have planned extra flights forGE15 beginning November 2022 using the resources at their disposal.

"The planned additional flights include 45 flights from KL International Airport (KLIA) to selected locations within Peninsular Malaysia. For flights from Subang, 30 additional flights are planned to selectedlocations within Peninsular Malaysia.

"In addition, 68 extra flights have been planned for flights between Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia. Furthermore, Malaysia Airlines is planning to increase capacity to key destinations in Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia by utilising the Airbus A330 wide-body aircraft," it said.

-- BERNAMA