AirAsia’s press statement seemed to suggest that the RM3 KLIA2 fees was imposed by MAHB. Its statement prompted an immediate respond from MAHB which had categorically denied that it had imposed the RM3 KLIA fees, HERE.
Since 9 May 2014 AirAsia (AA) when AA moved to KLIA2 it had been collecting RM3 KLIA2 Fees from its passengers. In 2017 it had been reported that AA had ferried 15 million out bound passengers. Therefore, AA had netted at least RM40 million of KLIA2 fees (15 mil X RM3). It will not be wrong to say that for the past 4 years (from 2015 to 2018) AA had netted more than RM100 million for KLIA2 fees. It will be much more if we were to include the credit card processing fees of RM8 per transaction!
AA was in great pain to justify the collection of KLIA2 fee by stating that it had to pay for SITA (the common passengers check-in system used in KLIA2 and KLIA) and aerobridge. Hence the charge of RM3. It must be noted that SITA and aerobridge are used in many international airports including Singapore Changi Airport. In fact the charge for aerobridge in KLIA2 is RM85 for 3 hours and it is the cheapest in the region. In Singapore Changi Airport the aerobridge charge is S$220 for an aircraft load of 251-350 seating capacity.
AA should also imposed a similar KLIA2 fees for being compelled to use SITA and aerobridge in Singapore Changi Airport and other airports like Bangkok, Chiangmai and others! I bet AA will not dare to compalin let alone impose such fees in other airports. AA dares to could only bully Malaysians and MAHB because we have a Ministry of Transport which suffers from willful blindness or ‘mabuk’ with … !
Aerobridge is for convenience of passengers especially for the handicaps, elderly and children.
SITA charge is about US$0.27 per passenger/transaction which is equivalent to RM1.12 (based on current exchange rate of RM4.15). It is part of the airlines operating cost. The charge for aerobridge in KLIA2 is RM85 for 3 hours. In the case of AA, it could use the aerobridge for disembarking and embarking passengers. Based on the load of the AA aircraft of 300 per flight, a rough estimate cost for the use of the aerobridge is about 28 Sen per passenger.
Therefore, the total cost/charge for SITA and aerobridge is about RM1.40 per passenger. Assuming that it was proper for AA to collect RM3 KLIA2 fees, AA had “profited” RM1.60 (RM3 – RM1.40=RM1.60) per passenger for the past 4 years. It must be noted that no other airlines operating at KLIA2 imposed KLIA2 fees for SITA and aerobridge, which they are also using.
It must be noted that MAVCOM had came out with new regulations to ban hidden charges imposed by airline. It is awaiting to be gazetted. Out of a sudden AA announced that it will stop the collection of the RM3 KLIA2 fees, HERE.
The cancellation of KLIA2 fees at this eleventh hour is an afterthought and more of a face saving exercise.
The “Handling Fees”
Below are the “HANDLING FEES” by AA. We hope that MAVCOM will examine these handling charges especially the “processing fees’ for credit card.
| Handling Fee | ||
| Processing Fee (direct debit) (per guest per booking) | MYR 4 | |
| Processing Fee (debit card) (per guest per sector) | MYR 6 | |
| Processing Fee (credit and charge cards) (per guest per sector) | MYR 8 | |
| Refund (per guest per sector) | MYR 15 | |
| Booking service fee (per guest per booking) | MYR 20 | |
PSC for No-Show Passengers
Lets look the refund of PSC paid by passenger and the handling fees for the refund for no show passengers. PSC is not part of the cost of the ticket. It should be automatically refunded to no show passengers because AA has no right to forfeit it. In August 2011 the Minister of Transport had informed parliament that AirAsia had collected about RM6,432,697.00 and AirAsia X RM498,00.00, HERE. By now the total figures should be much higher. The PSC for no-show passengers should be automatically refunded or hand over to the Registrar of Unclaimed Money Department. In the High Court AA’s Chief Financial Officer, Mr Shin Kok Leong, had testified that AA had treated the PSC for no show passengers as part of its income. Minister of Transport and MAVCOM must investigate this.
Below is the MAHB chart for PSC.
| Revised PSC, effective 1 July 2018 (RM) |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic | ASEAN | International (Excluding ASEAN) |
|
| KLIA | 11 | 35 | 73 |
| klia2 | 11 | 35 | 73 |
Assuming that a no-show passenger wants to claim back the PSC fro domestic flight, he or she will have to pay RM15 as the so-called “handling fees” to AA in order get back RM11. What a joke!
How could the Ministry of Transport allow the KLIA-2 fees to be collected since May 2015 until 7 January 2018 and the so-called “handling fees”?
Lets hope that the Ministry of Transport, YB Anthony Loke (Minister of Transport) and/or MAVCOM will look into these so-called “HANDLING FEES” with the view to ban them in the aviation industry.
