AirAsia settles dues
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AirAsia Bhd has settled its outstanding airport charges to Malaysian Airport Holdings Bhd (MAHB), a matter that was raised by certain quarters when the low-cost carrier entered into a share swap with national airline Malaysian Airline System Bhd (MAS).
MAHB chief financial officer Faizal Mansor said the AirAsia 'no longer' owes it money.
"AirAsia is a good paymaster," he told The Malaysia Reserve, when contacted last Friday.
There were claims the low-cost carrier operator had owed the airport operator previous dues. In 2008, the then Minister of Transport Datuk Ong Tee Keat told parliament that AirAsia owed MAHB RM110.4 million since 2002 until March 31, 2008.
In January this year, a Singapore newspaper, citing airline executives, said MAHB insisted AirAsia owes it RM103 million.
On Aug 9, MAS and AirAsia put an end to their rivalry with the conclusion of a share swap deal and the signing of a comprehensive collaboration framework (CCF) which would see both airlines working towards a common goal of turning Malaysia into an international aviation powerhouse.
Under the share swap deal, Tune Air Sdn Bhd, the major shareholder of AirAsia, would hold 20.5 per cent of MAS shares while Khazanah Nasional Bhd, in turn, would own 10 per cent shares in AirAsia. Both stakes are worth about US$360 million (RM1.8 billion), based on Bloomberg data.
Some quarters had questioned if the deal would in fact benefit AirAsia more than it would benefit MAS, with some raising yet again, the issue of payments the company owed MAHB and what would become of it.
MAHB had just announced that aircraft landing and parking charges would be increased by 9 per cent and 18 per cent respectively per annum until January 2014, while parking charges for the first three hours remain free.
The news were "negatives" for airlines, especially for AirAsia and MAS, as both expected to face direct impact from higher aircraft parking and landing charges, according to reports from Hong Leong Investment Bank (HLIB) Research released on Aug 8.
For both carriers, HLIB said the new charges are estimated to incur an incremental RM9 million per year for the next three years but it is likely both airlines will pass on the additional cost to their customers.
MAHB's new airport charges were approved by the government, in line with the operating agreement terms signed in February 2009.
Narrowing down, the additional cost for AirAsia's passengers is estimated at only 45 sen per person and MAS at 64 sen per person, the report said.
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