Air Asia highlighted that three incentive schemes highlighted by MAHB, namely the Airlines Recovery Plan (ARP), Airlines Incentive Programme (I) and Airlines Incentive Programme (II), were applicable to all airlines, not just to AirAsia.
The low-cost airline is commenting to the statement titled “Low-cost travel growth in Malaysia boomed in the last decade” made by Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB) on 24 July 2018 claiming AirAsia has benefited from incentives to the tune of RM376 million up until 2017.
“There was no special treatment - we merely made the best use of available incentives,” said AirAsia Malaysia CEO Riad Asmat.
He revealed that AirAsia has, since the start of operations in 2001, contributed at least RM3.5 billion in revenue to MAHB in the form of aeronautical charges - landing, parking, aerobridges, check-in counters, Passenger Service Charges (PSC) and Passenger Security Service Charges (PSSC) - and other charges, such as rental, utilities and more.
“Any growth AirAsia experiences directly contributes to MAHB’s coffers. For every RM1 in incentives we get, we give back at least RM9.33 to MAHB - and that is just in terms of direct contributions. If we look at indirect contributions from the retail, F&B and duty-free revenue that MAHB earns from our guests, that is another RM44.39 per RM1 in incentives just for Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (KLIA2) in 2017 alone,” he said in a press statement.
“We do not deny that MAHB played a big part in our early success. In addition to incentives, they also provided us with a low-cost carrier terminal (LCCT) and we are grateful for that. Since then, however, MAHB has undone much of this good work.”
“Malaysia was the first country in Asia to have an LCC terminal. Now, there are none left. Meanwhile, the rest of the world continues to move towards LCC terminals - Tokyo Narita, Osaka Kansai and Frankfurt all understand the need for dedicated low-cost infrastructure. In time, we hope MAHB will come to the same realisation so that, together, we can make Malaysia the “Dubai of Asia”.”
