AIRASIA has turned down Malaysian Aviation Commission’s (Mavcom) request for documented details on the recent congestion at klia2’s immigration counters.

In a statement today, AirAsia said the onus lies with Mavcom to investigate the matter as the commission is funded by the people.

AirAsia Berhad chief executive officer Riad Asmat today questioned the need for evidence on the congestion at the immigration clearance counters as the incident was highlighted in news reports and on social media.

“Why do we need to provide evidence when the issue has been highlighted in the news and on social media platforms? It only further proves Mavcom’s inaction, indolence and blatant disregard of its responsibility in protecting the rights of aviation consumers.

“It only takes Mavcom officials a few hours from their KL Sentral office for a quick visit to klia2 to see for themselves how severe the situation is at immigration counters during peak hours. They can come on any day as it is a daily occurrence and not an isolated incident as alleged.

“No one from Mavcom, including its executive chairman, has ever visited AirAsia’s head office RedQ which is just next to klia2, when we have had streams of visitors, including foreign regulators and policymakers, who wanted a better understand of our low-cost carrier (LCC) model.

“And mind you, we are talking about AirAsia here, the main LCC from Malaysia that is now the 13th largest airline group in the world. Are we not important to Mavcom, and Malaysia?”

Referring to the RM1 regulatory service charge collected from each passenger departing from Malaysian airports since May 2018, AirAsia said Mavcom has at least RM30 million.

The company also highlighted that Mavcom has yet to publish its annual report for 2018.

Meanwhile, the airline group’s long haul arm AirAsia X Berhad’s CEO Benyamin Ismail said all Malaysians should hold Mavcom accountable for its blatant disregard in upholding and protecting the rights of aviation consumers, who have contributed to the commission’s coffers, enabling it to pay “extraordinary salaries” to its staff and executives.

He added that the immigration congestion in klia2 is getting worse by the day, affecting the airline’s customers.

“Out of frustration, we wrote to Mavcom asking that it steps in and help resolve the impasse.

“This is not the first instance of Mavcom’s reluctance to act on complaints and issues, and I am sure it won’t be the last.

“The RM480 million suit that AirAsia filed against MAHB (Malaysian Airports Holdings Berhad) for operational losses at klia2 two weeks ago is a result of Mavcom’s refusal to decide on the dispute as requested in our earlier notification to them.

“Mavcom also refused to mediate in the klia2 passenger service charge (PSC) dispute between AirAsia and MAHB, and it took the cabinet to decide on a lower PSC for klia2 and other airports. This clearly is contrary to Section 75 of it’s the Mavcom Act 2015.

“Mavcom will go down in Malaysia’s history as the one commission that needs to be spoonfed despite its members and employees being paid handsome salaries. Mavcom must remember that it is highly funded by the people but unfortunately, chose to fail them – big time.”

Mavcom said in a statement yesterday that it did not receive the documents requested from AirAsia over klia2’s immigration counters.

The commission added that it had responded to the letter it received from AirAsia in August in relation to the issue and had requested for details.

“We made it clear in our reply to AirAsia that Mavcom is scheduled to meet with the Immigration Department and requested for the details to be provided prior to this meeting, as the availability of such information will be helpful in that discussion.

“Despite several reminders, AirAsia did not provide a response.” – October 22, 2019.