Brighter outlook for Malaysian aviation industry: AirAsia boss

BANGKOK: Low-cost carrier AirAsia Group Bhd CEO Tan Sri Tony Fernandes sees a better outlook for the local aviation industry following the change in political landscape.
“I’m really super excited by the potential that could be fully realised by Malaysia. I’ve been fighting for low PSC (passenger service charge) and low-cost airports in Penang, Kota Kinabalu and Kuching. AirAsia X can also operate in these places, but we need low charges,” he said at a press conference today in conjunction with the group’s celebration of welcoming its 500th million customer since its inception 16 years ago.
However, Fernandes lamented that the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) has lost its credibility of being fair to the aviation industry.
“I thought Mavcom would be great for the industry. I thought Mavcom is independent and looks at the industry fairly.”
“Aireen Omar (deputy group CEO of digital transformation and corporate services), Benyamin Ismail (AirAsia X Bhd CEO) and myself have had nothing to react now, it’s sort of torture dealing with these guys. I’m glad everything is coming out now.”
He added that Mavcom is no longer relevant to the aviation industry.
“With a fair Ministry of Transport, why do we need Mavcom?” he asked.
Looking forward, Fernandes said AirAsia will continue with its fleet expansion plan to add six to 10 wide-body aircraft and 30 to 35 narrow-body aircraft per annum.
“It is our dream when AirAsia flies to every continent, then you will have flights to Africa, but it depends on whether we have the right planes.”
AirAsia recently hit the 500 million mark in the number of customers served.
“Half a billion guests is no small feat - it’s seven times the population of Thailand, 16 times the population of Malaysia and about 80% of the entire Asean population.”
“Today, we have more than 200 planes, over 20,000 employees of 50 different nationalities and half a billion guests, 60% of which were first-time flyers,” said Fernandes.
In the past 16 years, AirAsia has flown over 500 million guests to over 130 destinations.