'KLIA2 timeliness necessary to cool tension'

Timeliness and a concrete black and white commitment on fixed airport charges in the new low-cost carrier terminal is
needed
to cool down the ongoing tension between AirAsia Chief Tan Sri Tony
Fernandes and Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB), says Tan Sri
Rafidah Aziz.

The chairman of AirAsia X, the long-haul unit of
AirAsia, said the no-frills airline was seeking two concrete
commitments from the airport operator, first on when the new airport
would be ready for operations and second, that airport charges would
not be raised once the new terminal is ready.

"Of course we
know that they (MAHB) now need some extension time. We have taken that
on board but before that (AirAsia relocates to KLIA2) we would like to
get some commitment.

"If there is any increase in airport
charges, it will be very unfair to airlines, especially AirAsia and
AirAsia X, as we will then have to increase charges. But, we are a
low-cost airline and we cannot bear the additional charges," Rafidah
said, adding that both airlines have suspended routes to several
destinations because of higher airport charges.

Asked whether
AirAsia Bhd was demanding a service-level agreement (SLE), the former
international trade and industry minister said "as long as there is
something in black and white to say the charges would not be raised,
it's fine with us".

"We want to make it (agreement) even more
stronger, we can have a legal agreement. But, that is not the current
problem. To me a legal agreement is the least of our problems," she
told Bernama.

The new low-cost carrier terminal (LCCT) will
cost between RM3.6 billion and RM3.9 billion and is scheduled to be
operational in April 2013, after several delays.

KLIA2,
initially scheduled for operations this year, will be the largest
low-cost carrier terminal when it is completed April next year, and
handle 45 million passengers, three times the capacity, of the current
LCCT.

Much of the airport revenue is expected to be generated
from retail sales and KLIA2 will have 50,000 square metres of
commercial space.

Price sensitive Tony Fernandes had been very
vocal on the rising cost of the new airport, in fear of the extra cost
to be passed to AirAsia, the biggest tenant at KLIA2.

To this,
Rafidah said two-way effective communication was important in the
aviation business, and in this case, involved the airport operator and
AirAsia.

Asked whether AirAsia was revisiting the suspended
Indian routes, namely New Delhi and Mumbai, Rafidah said at the moment
the low-cost airline was already looking at the possibility of
increasing its frequencies to several existing routes in India, which
has proven to be profitable.

"We cannot go there (Mumbai and
New Delhi) because of the high airport charges. Because we are simply
low fare, not only low cost. But if our cost is not under control, then
low fare is not something to be promised," she said. -- Bernama