Airline fees in Malaysia will supposedly increase by ten-fold next week

For those of you who plan on taking a flight soon, hurry up and book your tickets right away before 15 April 2016, as all airlines in Malaysia including Malaysia Airlines (MAS), AirAsia and Malindo Air – will be charging its passengers 10 times more than before!

Such changes are made by the Department of Civil Aviation Malaysia (DCA) who will be increasing all air travel-related fees by 1,000 percent for all airlines operating out of Malaysia by next week.


Normal flight tickets from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu which usually cost around RM160 to RM176 in air navigation flight charges (ANFC), will now cost RM1,600 to RM1,760.

The reason for the high cost is because DCA has made a review on the fees and charges imposed on airlines, thus everything from the usage of air space, air traffic facilities and other services; to the air operator’s certificate (AOC) and the pilot’s flight licence, will see a massive hike in prices.

Many local airlines are shocked by the sudden increase, thus they have demanded for DCA to clarify the basis of the charges as they believe it will have adverse effects on the industry and also make Malaysia less competitive, The Star reports.

“This new fees will make us less competitive. The fees are higher than that of Singapore and even Thailand, and we cannot compare the new pricing with that of Australia and New Zealand, as there they are much more efficient,” said an airline executive.

Nevertheless, some aviation executives are defending the increase by saying that it has been more than 40 years since the DCA had last revised its fees.

“The airlines have to be fair to the DCA. It has not raised its fees in 40 years. It is a long time. The DCA cannot retain its old pricing and still provide up-to-date services,” said the aviation executive.

DCA director-general Datuk Seri Azharuddin Abdul Rahman also mentioned, “If you look at the statistics, we are still the lowest in the world, and even if we increase the fees, it will still be lower compared to some other countries in this region.”