NEW PSC, RAB FRAMEWORK BY OCTOBER
Mavcom says new passenger service charges will be effective nationwide from January
THE Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) is scheduled to officially publish new passenger service charges (PSC) and regulatory asset base (RAB) framework by October.
Mavcom chief operating officer Azmir Zain said the new PSC rate would be effective at all airports nationwide from January next year.
He said it was premature for Mavcom to disclose the new rates, but the commission hopes to keep the charges, including the PSC, aircraft landing and parking fees relatively “affordable”.
“The request was made to us by Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) earlier this year. This is to tie up the readiness of MAHB based on the negotiation involving the new operating agreement (OA),” he said in an interview recently.
The PSC charges are currently
at RM35 and RM73 for outbound travellers to Asean and other international destinations, respectively.
“We feel it is worth investing the time to ensure what we have developed a set of rates that can be relied on over the long term.”
Azmir added that it had been engaging with MAHB and industry stakeholders at various levels in the last two years.
Transport Minister Anthony Loke previously said the government was looking at reducing the PSC to make air travel more affordable for Malaysians.
Azmir said Mavcom was also in the midst of introducing the RAB framework to keep operating cost in check.
“So, there will be no cost escalation. However, the quantum payable is still being negotiated,” he said.
Recently, the government extended the OA contract with MAHB, allowing the latter to undertake airport development following the RAB model to recoup its capital expenditure.
Azmir said once the RAB framework was implemented, the government would not fork out any capital expenditure for airport development works.
Under the previous OA, MAHB had been paying between RM300 million and RM400 million, or about 11.8 per cent, user fee to the government annually.
Some research houses such as MIDF Research view the proposed framework as positive as it will make aeronautical charges more transparent and airport operators more accountable.
It would also ensure that MAHB get remunerated for the development of its assets, said MIDF Research.
The RAB framework would provide a direct link between capital investment and the level of charges, said Azmir.
On the aeronautical charges, he said Mavcom was expected to announce its next consultation paper on the matter next month, while completing the work by the third quarter this year.
“We did not confine our consultation to industry players but we also spoke to and engaged with the government via the Transport Ministry as well as private stakeholders right up to the end of this evaluation.”
Mavcom previously indicated that it would want to move away from the current regime of uniform charges to differentiated rates in accordance to service levels and standards of infrastructure at the airports.
“We want to set intuitive charges for consumers relative to the services which they receive at the airports so they can better relate to and understand them.
“We reckon that service levels are not exactly uniform across different airports in Malaysia. Hence, we want to move to differentiated rates,” he said.
On whether the new PSC charges would be the same for Terminal 1 and 2 of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, he said: “klia2 (Terminal 2) is more sophisticated than the airports in Penang, Kota Kinabalu, Bintulu or Miri.
“Therefore, we need to equalise PSC rates across airports in Malaysia with our consultation paper issued in 2017. The revised rates will also include aircraft landing and parking fees at the airports.
“The new rates would be internationally recognised where charges would correspond with the quality of infrastructure and level of services at the airports.
“Regionally, the current PSC still among the lowest in the region, including aircraft parking and landing charges,” said Azmir.