Airport tax saga continues

AirAsia Bhd has backtracked on an earlier statement which stressed it will not adhere to Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB)’s recent airport tax hike.

Read more: Airport tax saga continues http://www.btimes.com.my/articles/20111124233404/Article/#ixzz1ee0vVQk4

A post on its official Facebook fan page late yesterday morning said AirAsia would not adhere to the increase in airport tax, which will be implemented on November 25 2011. The statement was even tweeted out to its followers on social network Twitter. The post was in reference to MAHB's plans to increase airport tax for international passengers at the low-cost carrier terminal (LCCT) to RM32 from RM25 previously. A check on AirAsia's Facebook fan page later in the afternoon, however, showed that the post had been changed to read that the airline will continue to lobby for no hike in airport tax at the LCCT, with the public's support. "Look at the queue at the immigration, space for check-in counters, quality of toilets, cleanliness of the facilities and#8211; is it really worth the increase?" AirAsia's head of commercial Jasmine Lee asked in the post. Not adhering to the airport tax hike at this stage, when it has been approved by the Government,would mean that AirAsia needs to apply to the Ministry of Transport to stop collecting airport tax on behalf of airport operator MAHB. AirAsia's Tan Sri Tony Fernandes did not respond to SMSes on the matter. It is unclear if the post was the work of an overzealous employee or part of an initiative by AirAsia in its fight against the hike. Fernandes has publicly criticised both MAHB and the Ministry of Transport for the increase. Last week, AirAsia's co-founder took to twitter to vent his frustration.