Stop cherry picking, AirAsia tells MAHB

PETALING JAYA: AirAsia Malaysia CEO Riad Asmat said Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) should stop cherry-picking data to suit its agenda and instead work together with the airline for the best interests of Sabah.

“MAHB suggested that negative growth in 2014 and 2015 at Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) was the reason for wanting to move AirAsia to KKIA Terminal 1 (T1). By focusing on those two years, MAHB would have the public believe that passenger traffic had long been on the decline, and that this trend could only be reversed by moving AirAsia out of T2,” said Riad.

“This could not be further from the truth. AirAsia operated from T2 from mid-2004 up until December 2015, when we were compelled to move to T1 in light of amenities and facilities being made unavailable for our operations then. During that period, KKIA passenger traffic grew year-on-year every year, except in 2014 and 2015,” he added.

Citing the Minister of Tourism and the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents, Riad said the drop in traffic especially among China tourists during those two years had much to do with a series of kidnappings.

On plans to transfer Sabah operations back to T2, Riad said AirAsia is willing to take up the costs of refurbishing T2. “It will be better than before, and there will be no cost to MAHB or the state government. All we ask is a chance to continue growing Kota Kinabalu to its truest potential for the benefit of Sabahans, as we have always done.”