Fernandes tweets his ire over host of issues

In a series of tweets, AirAsia CEO Tan Sri Tony Fernandes raised questions on MAHB’s operations, the effectiveness of members of parliament and the objectivity of the Transport Ministry

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KUALA LUMPUR: AirAsia Bhd may have called off a press conference yesterday on Malaysia Airports Holding Bhd's (MAHB) airport tax hike but that didn't stop its co-founder from taking to Twitter to vent his frustration. In a series of tweets which started in the morning, Tan Sri Tony Fernandes raised questions on MAHB's operations, the effectiveness of members of parliament (MPs) and the objectivity of the Ministry of Transport (MOT). Fernandes also questioned the need for a third runway in Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) when there are ways to increase utilisation of existing runways. "Why is KLIA building a third runway when they don't use dual mode on two runways? Heathrow has 60 million passengers with two runways. Fix the air traffic system MAHB. Would have been cheaper than building another runway," he said. Fernandes questioned why MPs, who had criticised him, have not questioned the cost of airports and fought for lower taxes for the rakyat. MOT was also not spared, as Fernandes put to task its role in regulating airports. "The (secretary-general Datuk) Long See Wool of Ministry of Transport sits on the Malaysia Airports board. How can he be objective and play fair to the airlines?" he asked. Fernandes' rant was triggered by the hike in airport tax, landing and parking charges which took effect yesterday. Last month, MAHB announced that MOT had approved a RM14 increase in airport tax for international passengers to RM65 per passenger for most of its international airports. The low-cost carrier terminal in KLIA and Terminal 2 in Kota Kinabalu saw charges go up by RM7 per international passenger to RM32. Landing and parking charges will rise in three stages over three years. Landing charges will be nine per cent higher and parking charges will be increased by 18 per cent a year.