Govt Mulls Expanding FLYSiswa Aid To Private University Students

The Transport Ministry is exploring ways to expand the FLYSiswa programme, which offers a RM400 flight ticket subsidy to students in private universities (IPTS).

Its Minister Anthony Loke said the government wants to help more students, but limited funding remains a major challenge due to the large number of potential recipients.

“Whether to extend it to IPTS students, the number is very large. It’s not that we don’t want to, but there are financial constraints. If each student gets RM400, and there are 100,000 students, that’s already RM40 million,” he said in Parliament.

He further mentioned that the ministry is still looking for options to include IPTS students who genuinely need assistance.

Currently, the RM400 flight voucher applies only to students from public universities (IPTA), polytechnics, and teacher training colleges under the Education Ministry. 

The initiative mainly helps Sabahan and Sarawakian students studying in Peninsular Malaysia travel home more affordably.

The FLYSiswa programme, launched in 2023, initially offered RM300 before being increased to RM400 in Jan this year.

Loke said the ministry has spent RM19.5 million this year to subsidise 39,764 flight tickets under the RM499 fare cap for routes between Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah, Sarawak, and Labuan. 

Each ticket received about RM491 in subsidies, reducing the average fare from RM990 to RM499.

“This year’s subsidy covered major festive seasons like Chinese New Year, Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Gawai, Kaamatan and will continue for Christmas next month,” Loke added.

Last year, the ministry spent RM11 million to subsidise 26,993 tickets under the RM599 fare cap, allowing passengers to pay up to RM599 instead of the average RM1,007.