KL mulls raising air fares

KL mulls raising air fares

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): The government is studying a request from loss-making Malaysia Airlines to raise domestic fares, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Monday.

The premier indicated that an increase was likely. The airline loses 320 million ringgit (US$84.2 million) a year on domestic routes.

Mahathir said domestic fares were one-third those in Indonesia.

"They (airline) are losing millions of dollars because of this," he told reporters.

"This is really not fair for a public listed company to bear the burden of subsidizing -- something that should be by the government and not by the private sector."

Business Times reported Monday that the government is believed to have already agreed a rise of up to 30 percent for routes in peninsular Malaysia.

It said the rise -- 10 percent for economy passengers and 30 percent for others -- had been factored into the airline's balance sheet for this year.