LOW-COST carrier AirAsia and its sister airline, AirAsia X, are the only airlines operating at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (klia2) not to have complied with the revised passenger service charge (PSC) as it continues to collect the old rate, the New Straits Times reported Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) as saying.

MAHB said this in response to queries that AirAsia Group was the only one flouting the revised service charge set by the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom).

“We do not have this issue with any other airlines. All other airlines are complying with the gazetted PSC rates,” it reportedly said.

Apart from AirAsia and AirAsia X, other airlines operating at the low-cost terminal include Cebu Pacific, Jetstar, Scoot and IndiGo.

“Of these, AirAsia and IndiGo are the only ones operating non-Asean international flights at klia2. The rest operate Asean flights only.”

The airports operator was quoted as saying that all other airlines were collecting the recently revised charges of RM11 for domestic, RM35 for Asean international flights and RM73 for non-Asean international flights. AirAsia, however, continues to collect RM50 for non-Asean international flights.

MAHB had previously said the airline’s defiance and disparity in approach to the PSC had distorted competition and affected the airport operator’s ability to attract new airlines into Malaysia. It had said AirAsia was also hampering efforts to propel Malaysia as an aviation hub.

Meanwhile, AirAsia Malaysia CEO Riad Asmat refuted MAHB’s statement, saying “the airport operator is duplicitous and disingenuous in its arguments”.

“It is our contention that MAHB’s statement has merely reaffirmed that the airport operator is duplicitous and disingenuous in its arguments.”

AirAsia once again stood its ground and reiterated that facilities at the terminal were inferior to that of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), hence, does not warrant the same PSC rate.

“On all points, our position remains that there are two different service levels at KLIA (premium) and klia2 (low-cost), hence the decision to charge the same airport tax is fundamentally wrong and against the principal of non-discriminatory pricing, which assumes comparable service levels,” he said.

On December 11, AirAsia Group Bhd and AirAsiaX said in a filing with the stock exchange that the two airlines were being sued by MAHB’s wholly-owned subsidiary Malaysia Airports (Sepang) Sdn Bhd (MASSB) for RM9.4 million and RM26.72 million, respectively, for PSC arrears.

The row between the two parties intensified when AirAsia Group and AirAsia X’s solicitors served a notice to MAHB last month, claiming RM479.78 million for losses incurred for operating at klia2. – February 5, 2019.