Domestic Air fares in Malaysia

Malaysian Airlines(MAS) charges 49 sen per kilometre in the domestic routes in West Malaysia. Besides MAS there are two other much smaller carriers, namely Air Asia and Pelangi Airways. The MAS air fare structure, as published in the New Straits Times on 26th July 2001, are as follows:


From To Fare type Fare(ringgit)
Kuala Lumpur Alor Star F 307
B 244
Y 172
FN 200
CN 159
YN 112
-
Johor Baru F 251
B 200
Y 141
-
Kota Baru F 281
B 225
Y 158
FN 197
CN 158
YN 111
-
Kuala Terengganu F 281
B 225
Y 158
-
Langkawi F 364
B 292
Y 205
-
Penang F 281
B 225
Y 158
FN 197
CN 158
YN 111

The fare type descriptions for the above table are as follows:
F - First Class
B - Business Class
Y - Economy Class
FN - First Class Night
CN - Business Class Night Tourist
YN - Economy Class Night Tourist

Promotional fares, family fares, etc, are available from time to time so it is best to check with your travel agent. It is often possible to fly cheaper than ecomony fares depending on the season. It is also more convenient to fly from Subang Airport rather than from KLIA for people living in Petaling Jaya. All three domestic carriers have flights operating from Subang Airport. However, it is usually the flight times which determine which airport to choose. Travellers going to the the islands off Terengganu should know that if they reach Terengganu in the afternoon, it may be too late to get a boat ride to the islands as most boats operate in the morning and early afternoon.

For comparison, a table showing the domestic fare structure of various countries has been appended below. This is a very rough guide only of course, as different domestic carriers in different countries do offer varying fares due to competition on certain routes.

Country Average domestic air fare
( sen per kilometre )
Australia 88
Britain 206
Canada 211
China 51.3
France 141
India 71.8
Indonesia 95.6
Japan 126.3
Malaysia 49
Philippines 52.5
Thailand 40.6
United States 476
Vietnam 84.4

Bucket shops offering cut-price fares are active in Britain and U.S. but we do not know if there are any bucket shops in Malaysia. Probably not. Active travel agents such as Reliance, Gasi Travel Centre, or even Peter Stuyvesant Travel can probably get you a decent deal. Domestic flights tend to be overbooked so it pays to reach the airport early to avoid getting bumped off onto a later flight. If you do get bumped off the flight, there is pretty nothing much you can do about it. People get bumped off flights all the time, so you just want to make sure you are not one of them.

Travel agent links:

http://www.reliancetravel.com/
Reliance: Any Malaysian will know this name in the travel industry. This site has a good search engine that can tell you the price of tickets etc for the date you want.

http://www.gasi.com.my
Gasi Travel: Has frequent promotions on island holidays in Malaysia(check the page on http://www.gasi.com.my/tour-around(island).htm). The slightly cheaper island holidays(travelling by coach) is not on their website. Their ticket section in their website only covers international routes.


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