Sabah should have a new airport — Warisan

KOTA KINABALU: Parti Warisan Sabah says that a potential revenue of RM62.8 million for the state can be derived from airport tax by building a new Sabah Airport.

Its vice president Junz Wong, in a statement released yesterday, said that a Warisan Government could enter into joint venture with AirAsia by building its own Sabah Airport and have an increase in the state revenue from the airport tax.

He proposed a 40% shares of the potential revenue for Sabah and a calculation resulted in the value of RM62.8 million and thus, both AirAsia and Sabah state government could have a win-win situation especially for Sabah tourism.

Junz, who is also Likas Assemblyman, said that Sabah is perfect for Airline Hub but had lost the opportunity after the state government chose to comply with the Federal Transport Ministry and allowed AirAsia to transfer its operations to Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA).

“I think Sabah will benefit a lot especially in terms of tourism and service industry if we become a hub for airlines, for example, to AirAsia X.

“I remember AirAsia founder, Tony Fernandes, had said that he would be more than willing to invest money in Sabah to build a new Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) and make Sabah the hub for AirAsia X.

“Unfortunately, we lost that opportunity when the current Sabah government chose to comply with the Federal Transport Ministry and allowed Air Asia to transfer its operations to the current Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) instead of allowing it to continue its operations in Terminal Two ,”he said.

He explained that Fernandes had said that his plan was to operate long haul AirAsia X out of Sabah besides launching new regional routes from the State but the plan was scratched after the airline was moved to Terminal One.

It was revealed that AirAsia had brought in more than 30 million tourists to Sabah between 2009 and 2014 and opened up new routes for Kota Kinabalu (KK) including nine international ones such as Hangzhou, Shenzhen and Jakarta as well as new domestic routes such as Penang and Kota Baru in Kelantan.

The only thing Fernandes had needed then was an airport and even pledged to spend money to build a new airport where AirAsia could operate from.

“The Sabah government should have supported Fernandes but instead they chose to listen to the wishes of Putrajaya and the opportunity was lost.

“Now Denpasar in Bali is benefitting from our loss because AirAsia X already made the airport its hub, ”he said.

Junz also believed that the low-cost carrier could still consider making Sabah its AirAsia X hub because of KK’s strategic location and a second Airport to develop Sabah as a Tourism hub was the way forward for Sabah Tourism as such opportunity would bring employment opportunities and extra tourist receipts.

“We could still convince Fernandes to make his dream come true of making KK the hub for AirAsia X because compared to Bali, we are in the middle of all flight routes.”

“Sabah’s geographic location means it is the ideal site for any commercial airline looking for a hub in the region.

“KK is in the middle of busy airline routes and the distances from other cities, particularly the Far East are shorter compared to other international airports such as Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) or the Changi Airport in Singapore.

He also said that Sabah government would do well to take back the KKIA from the Malaysia Airport Berhad (MAB) and managed it themselves.

“However, if that is not possible, then a Warisan Sabah government will build our own Sabah airport which we would have full control, supported by a professional body.

“A new airport with a new runway to cater for bigger aircraft could persuade Fernandes and other low-cost carriers to build their hub in Sabah. Kimanis could be a perfect spot for this important development."

“Having a second airport can only be healthy for Sabah tourism as we can always have a contingency plan for our busy city and also encourage healthy competition.

Moreover, Junz opined that Sabah government should play the leading role of determining how Sabah tourism should be developed, including the where, when and what and how things should be run at Sabah airports in the best interest of Sabah tourism.

“I stress that we should not allow Sabah tourism as one of our top four GDP contributors to be manipulated or decided by federal ministry, MAHB.”

“If the federal ministry doesn’t respond when the new airport will be built, a Warisan Sabah government will push for the privatization proposal.

“As a Sabahan, we must ask ourselves this question. Do we want Sabah to be an international tourism hub? If yes, then I believe the answer is straightforward and apparent,” he concluded.