AirAsia Malaysia CEO Riad Asmat said in a statement that the carrier did not receive any special treatment from MAHB, which manages Malaysia’s airports, as the incentive programmes were given to all airlines.

“We wish to point out that the 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.

“There was no special treatment – we merely made the best use of available incentives,” he said.

Riad also said 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.”

Riad said AirAsia did not deny that MAHB had played a big part in its early success by not only providing incentives but also a low-cost carrier terminal (LCCT).

“We are grateful for that. Since then, however, MAHB has undone much of this good work,” he said.

Riad said Malaysia was the first country in Asia to have an LCC terminal but now, there was 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’,” he added.

MAHB, meanwhile, reiterated that several incentive programmes from 2002 to 2009 were exclusive to AirAsia.

“The exclusive incentive was mainly for domestic traffic to support the growth of unchartered low-cost travel then. Subsequently, incentive programmes such as the Airlines Recovery Programmes and Airlines Incentive Programmes 1, 11 & 111 were then made available to other airlines after 2009,” it said.

The low-cost carrier had been paid RM376 million in incentives to-date, or 44% of the total amount of incentives paid to all airlines, which made it the biggest beneficiary, MAHB said.

It also said that AirAsia had taken its earlier statement out of context by saying the airport operator implied negative growth was the reason for the airline’s move to Kota Kinabalu International Airport’s (KKIA) Terminal 1 (T1).

MAHB said in a statement that its intention was to refute AirAsia’s claim of experiencing flat growth since moving to T1.

“Data has clearly shown that after the consolidation of operations, there was indeed substantial traffic growth at KKIA, as a whole, as well as for the AirAsia group, thereby contributing to a rise in tourism traffic for Sabah,” Bernama quoted it as saying.

Yesterday, Riad said AirAsia was prepared to take up the cost of refurbishing KKIA Terminal 2, which he claimed MAHB had neglected when it decided to move AirAsia to T1.

Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook today said his ministry will study AirAsia’s proposal to move its operations back to Terminal 2.

He said talks will be held with the Sabah state government before a final decision is made.

“Terminal 2 is now operating, but only for general services aviation or private jets only.

“Any plans to return to Terminal 2 will be discussed and the technical aspects studied,” he said at the Ask-The-Minister Session in the Dewan Rakyat today.

He was answering a question from Ahmad Hassan (PH-Papar) on AirAsia’s proposal.

On AirAsia’s plans to begin flights from Kota Kinabalu to India, China, Japan, Korea and Australia, Loke said the government supported any effort by the low-cost airline company to begin such flights.