Airasia Countersues Mahb For More Than Rm400mil

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PETALING JAYA: Budget airline AirAsia Bhd seeks more than RM400mil in counterclaims against Malaysia Airports Holding Bhd (MAHB) in response to a suit filed by the airport operator last month over airport taxes
The counterclaims were for losses and damages experienced by AirAsia and its long-haul sister airline, Air Asia X Bhd, due to alleged operational disruptions at Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (KLIA2), the airline said
According to AirAsia, such disruptions included closures to Runway 3 on numerous occasions last year, a ruptured fuel line that impeded operations at Pier P for more than a month between October and November in 2016, as well as additional aircraft towing requirements and fuel costs, delays, manpower, and flight cancellations that resulted in taxiing costs and loss of revenue
Riad Asmat and Benyamin Ismail, who are AirAsia and AirAsia X chief executive officers (CEOs) respectively, said the company has always been prepared to constructively engage with MAHB and its subsidiaries.

However, they added that the company reserved the right to exhaust all avenues in recovering losses and damages caused by MAHB's “failure to carry out its duties as an aviation service provider”.

They said AirAsia has repeatedly communicated issues to MAHB but claimed that nothing was done to solve them.AirAsia has also applied to strike out MAHB's suit over outstanding airport taxes on the grounds that it was misconceived and premature
Riad and Benyamin said that MAHB has not complied with the statutory provisions for dispute resolution within the Mavcom Act
“It is regrettable that MAHB has chosen litigation for reasons best known to them
“We will continue to adhere to the legislative provisions under the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) Act 2015 and seek our claim through mediation,” they said in a joint press statement Wednesday
Under Sections 74 and 78 of the Act, MAHB and airline operators have an obligation to mediate any dispute, and legal action may only be used as a last resort when other efforts have failed
The CEOs also said that travellers flying from KLIA2 should not be made to pay the same airport tax as those departing from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) due to the different level of services
“MAHB does not provide the same level of service at KLIA2 and it is for this reason that we have refused to collect the higher airport tax imposed on Non-Asean international passengers departing from KLIA2,” they said
They also alleged that MAHB has done a poor job of maintaining KLIA2, and claimed that by increasing the airport tax, MAHB was attempting to recover the cost of building KLIA2
“MAHB had not performed its tasks in managing the costs in building KLIA2, that led to cost overruns which the airport operator was now seeking to recover from the travelling public,” they said
AirAsia said it agreed to move to KLIA2 after the government scrapped the initially approved plans for its own low-cost terminal in Labu, Negri Sembilan in 2008 following MAHB's claim that it could build a similar terminal closer to KLIA with the same facilities and charges at the former Low-Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT)
The airport tax in KLIA2 was increased to RM73 from RM50 for non-Asean international passengers
Domestic passengers were not spared from the increase and now have to pay RM11, up from the previous RM6.- Star

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