No solid reason for increase in KLIA2 passenger fee

I REFER to the announcement that the Malaysian Aviation Commission will be increasing the passenger service charge at KLIA2 from RM50 to RM73 to be the same as KLIA’s.

This makes me very angry. My brother and I are in the process of setting up a business and have been travelling to meet with suppliers over the past few months, mostly out of KLIA2.

Since this is a new venture, we have to be prudent with our spending even though these visits to suppliers in China and India are incredibly important.

We have been fortunate enough that planning in advance means we can more or less budget for a lower ticket price, but with the fee increase, we can be certain that ticket prices will go up.

The passenger service charge is a huge increase to the ticket price set by airlines! Mavcom claims that this is because costs to run the airport are increasing but that is certainly not the passengers’ problem! Why are we helping Mavcom pay for something that they should be handling as it is their purview?

This is an important matter. Why is the public always a victim for businesses who don’t know how to manage their own operations efficiently?

Mavcom also says that KLIA2 is just as good as KLIA. I think we can all agree – including the people at Mavcom – that the two airports are definitely not on par with each other.

I’ve had to walk up and down escalators and ramps, which are placed at odd locations around this poorlyplanned airport. The air conditioning system is another strange thing – in some areas it is cold and in others it is stuffy and hot.

And the immigration lines are another thing I dread; every time I return, I have to wait at the very minimum 40 minutes in line to use the egate.

KLIA2 is certainly not a comfortable place to be in. There should without a doubt be NO increase in the passenger service charge at KLIA2.