Malaysia will raise airport tax for both international and domestic flights soon, local media reported Monday.

The Malaysian government is expected to give the go-ahead to airport operator Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB) to raise the tax as early as Wednesday, the New Straits Times (NST) quoted an unnamed source as saying.

For international flights, a traveler is expected to pay between 60 ringgit (15.95 U.S. dollars) and 65 ringgit (17.28 U.S. dollars) while on domestic flights, the tax will be between 10 ringgit (2.66 U.S. dollars) and 12 ringgit (3.19 U.S. dollars), said the report.

The present rate is 45 ringgit (11.96 U.S. dollars) for international flights and 6 ringgit (1.59 U.S. dollars) for domestic departures.

The source added many other airports in neighboring countries have been raising their tax rates since 2001 but Malaysia has maintained the rate despite rising costs up to now.

Source: Xinhua