PETALING JAYA: Malaysia Airlines (MAS) would raise its domestic fares by 15 per cent for its economy class and 25 per cent for its business class effective Aug 15.
Its international fares remain unchanged.
Despite the fare increase, its Managing Director Idris Jala said the national carrier's rates would "still be among the lowest in the world."
He said MAS would also increase the domestic fuel surcharge to RM20 from RM15 within Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah and Sarawak effective today (Tuesday).
Between Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah and Sarawak, the fuel surcharge would be raised to RM51 from RM36, he told a press conference here Monday.
He also said an administration fee of RM14 would be imposed as practised by budget carrier AirAsia.
Saying the airlines' domestic fares were "still among the lowest in the world" even with the fare increase, he explained the cost of flying domestic with MAS was only 62 sen per mile, which is lower than the cost of flying in countries like Thailand, China, Philippines, France and Japan.
Stressing that the new fuel surcharge only covers half of the fuel cost, he said it was important for the national carriers to raise its fares now since the last domestic fare hike was done 14 years ago.
In addition, inflation and cost of living had gone up over the years.
MAS also aims to break even by the year-end following the implementation of its turnaround plan unveiled earlier this year, he said.
"Starting from tomorrow we will take full accountability over the profit and loss and as far as we are concerned, we should be in a position not to lose any money this year.
"We are planning to make sure that we are track to break even," he added.
For next year, Idris said MAS will make further improvements and "hopefully make some money but we really need to work hard on the way to reduce our costs and focus on customers and improve our offer."
Source: BERNAMA
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