Getting his hands on flight tickets to return to his home town in Ipoh, Malaysia, during Chinese New Year is a feat that Mr Tan Yik Xuan has to pull off every year.Mr Tan, a 26-year-old who works in logistics in Singapore, purchased return flight tickets in October 2025 – four months ahead of Chinese New Year in 2026 – for around $630. He had bought them significantly earlier because he was worried that he would not be able to secure tickets.Describing the higher fare as “much more expensive” than the usual cost of less than $320 for a round trip during off-peak seasons, Mr Tan said he is still willing to pay more to fly to Ipoh instead of taking a bus because of the shorter travel time and absence of traffic jams.Checks by The Straits Times in the week starting Jan 5 found that a two-way economy class ticket to Ipoh costs between $822 and $1,222 for travel from Feb 14 to 19, more than six times the fare of $124 to $191 for the week before. Read more