AirAsia Wants MAHB To Recommend Reduction In Airport Tax At LCCT

24 June 2009

KUALA LUMPUR -- Low cost carrier AirAsia Bhd, wants Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) to recommend a reduction in airport tax to the government for international passengers, at the Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT)

Its group chairman Datuk Aziz Bakar said today that the current rate of RM51 charged for international travellers was unfair, and should be reduced to RM10, as the LCCT did not have advantages such as aerobridges when compared to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).

"Malaysia Airports should be recommending to the government to lower the charge as it is the entity operating the airport," he told reporters on the sidelines of AirAsia's Major Tariff Adjustment launch here on Wednesday.

"The Minister of Finance, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, will have to consider this. We have invested a lot and are always expanding and lowering cost. We want to make Kuala Lumpur a hub for travellers," he added.

Aziz said AirAsia had helped bring about the multiplier effect to the country's economy through its passengers.

"If Malaysia Airports look at the bigger picture of the economy, what is a few ringgit in service charges?" he asked.

He said this when asked to comment on the issue of the RM65 million in airport tax owed by AirAsia to Malaysia Airports and which was brought up in Parliament on Tuesday.

"We have been paying the charges. But the RM65 million is part of the payment we are holding back, until we resolve this issue," he explained.