‘Join us to reduce PSC’

PETALING JAYA: AirAsia’s Tan Sri Tony Fernandes has rallied Malaysians to join the company’s fight in pressuring aviation authorities to lower the passenger service charges (PSC) for the lowcost klia2 airport.

The group chief executive officer lamented that the low-cost airline had been “fighting alone” in its battle against the authorities for what he described as unfair airport taxation.

“We have always fought alone but if you don’t want the unjustifiable charges to be imposed, we need Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) and Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB) to hear you too.

“They need to listen to Malaysians,” he said in a post on Facebook yesterday.

“Sometimes, it gets so tiring and really brings me down, but when I hear of stories like how a family finally reunites from our connectivity and low fares, I am reminded of why we started AirAsia and it keeps me going,” he said.

Fernandes said there should be no “one-size fits all” approach in implementing the PSC for all airports, arguing that no airports were built the same.

He said as such, charges should be proportionate to the services and facilities provided.

“When airport tax was equalised in klia2, we were the only ones who fought and we are still fighting.

“We truly believe that it isn’t fair for passengers to be charged the same airport tax between KLIA and klia2 when the facilities and services are of completely different levels,” he said.

His post was accompanied with a picture comparing passengers’ experience between KLIA and klia2, including comparisons on the number of check-in counters, connections to the terminals and passenger comfort and space.

Beginning Jan 1, Mavcom standardised the PSC for all airports in the country to RM11 for domestic destinations, RM35 for Asean destinations and RM73 for other international destinations. – by Amar Shah Mohsin