GE14 | AirAsia launched a set of fixed fares last night to facilitate voters travelling home to vote in the upcoming 14th general election (GE14).

“Because of your overwhelming response to vote for GE14, we’re launching fixed fares tonight,” said AirAsia in a posting on its official Twitter account last night.

During the travel period between May 8 and 9 and subject to seat availability, flights within Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia will be set at RM99.

Meanwhile, for flights between Peninsular Malaysia and Sarawak, the fixed ticket price is RM129 whereas flights between Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah will be at RM199.

AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes had earlier said the airline will freeze seats that have not yet been sold for the day before and after May 9, and set low fares for those seats.

“While AirAsia should not be the only airline doing this, we will help.

“We will freeze whatever seats we have not sold for (a) day before and say (sic) after and put those seats on low fares. And put extra flights. Should be out by Monday,” he said in a Twitter posting last night.

“We are going to deploy AirAsia X 330 at times it is not flying. Revenue team working overtime to get this done. Say thanks to them,” he said in a later tweet.

Commending his revenue team for working overtime and “doing this for the people of Malaysia”, he encouraged people to “go home and vote”.

On Wednesday, Fernandes had said AirAsia would not be able to provide free flights but had promised that the airline will do its best to keep prices down.

This came after incumbent Pulai MP Nur Jazlan Mohamad sarcastically suggested that AirAsia offer free flights outright, after the airline announced that it would provide a fee waiver for booking changes to domestic flight during the election period.

Nur Jazlan had previously accused another airline, Cathay Pacific, of wanting a regime change when it announced a similar move.

Several other airlines have since followed suit.

Since the Election Commission announced May 9, a Wednesday, as the polling date for GE14, Malaysians have started to arrange transportation back to their hometowns to vote, with crowdfunding and carpooling movements sprouting up on social media.