PETALING JAYA: A week after Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) rejected AirAsia’s offer of mediation, the airport operator has served a letter of demand on the low-cost airline group to remove several articles published on the latter’s online portal, AirAsia Newsroom.
In a statement today, the airport operator said it has, together with its wholly owned subsidiary Malaysia Airports (Sepang) Sdn Bhd, jointly issued and served a letter of demand on AirAsia Bhd, its long-haul affiliate AirAsia X Bhd and their respective CEOs Riad Asmat and Benyamin Ismail in respect of several inaccurate and misleading articles.
In response, AirAsia said it is puzzled that MAHB continues to use its dominant position and the threat of legal action to stifle and suppress fair comments.
MAHB has demanded that AirAsia remove the articles immediately from the online portal, and cease and desist immediately from making further false, inaccurate and misleading statements about MAHB and its unit.
“While MAHB takes no issue with AirAsia informing its shareholders of the progress and status of court suits in accordance with the law, AirAsia has overstepped its boundaries by publishing false, inaccurate and misleading statements in the media aimed at damaging the reputation of MAHB.
“Following this, MAHB has no choice but to necessarily issue the letter of demand to protect its interests,” it said.
MAHB said it maintains its long-standing position that the relevant dispute and related matters have all been presented before the courts for determination and parties should let the matters be decided by the courts.
“Hence, there is no necessity for AirAsia to make disparaging remarks about MAHB,” it added.
MAHB said it has reserved all its rights to take further necessary action should AirAsia refuse to comply with the letter of demand and/or persist in making further false, inaccurate and misleading statements about the group.
The parties have been embroiled in a dispute over passenger service charge (PSC) imposed on passengers at klia2, with MAHB taking AirAsia to court for refusing to collect the additional RM23 PSC per passenger.
