Public varsity students to get RM300 subsidy for purchase of domestic flight tickets

PUTRAJAYA: The government has introduced a subsidy initiative worth RM300 for the purchase of flight tickets for public university students for domestic routes between the Peninsula, Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan that will begin on Aug 15.

Transport Minister Anthony Loke said this would be implemented through a credit shell where participating airlines will issue a digital voucher worth RM300 to each eligible student to redeem for purchasing flight tickets for domestic routes.

"This subsidy is only valid for the purchase of one-way and return economy class flight tickets between the students' place of origin and place of study," he told a media conference, here, today.

Loke said the initiative, which the Cabinet agreed to at today's meeting, would benefit over 56,000 public university students nationwide, with the overall cost estimated to be RM16.8 million.

He said that if the ticket purchased costs less than RM300, the balance of the digital voucher could be used for the next ticket purchase.

He said the vouchers can only be used to purchase Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, Batik Air, Firefly and MYAirline flight tickets and the deadline to redeem the vouchers for the purchase of flight tickets is Oct 31.

To apply for the subsidy for the purchase of flight tickets, public university students must check their eligibility through the Transport Ministry's website, which will be notified later," he said.

"If they are not eligible, they can appeal to the Ministry of Higher Education through their respective varsities or apply for a subsidy for the purchase of flight tickets on the websites of the selected airlines," he said.

-- BERNAMA