AirAsia confident of returning to Terminal 2 soon
Published on: Friday, July 20, 2018
Kota Kinabalu: AirAsia Group Chief Executive Officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes said the airline is currently in talks with the State Government on transferring its operations back to Terminal 2, a move he says will bring in nine million tourists to Sabah by 2022 and create up to 30,000 jobs.He said if the State Government agreed, the move could be anywhere within three and six months because most of the facilities at Terminal 2 are still in perfect condition but wasting away.He said the low cost airline was never in favour of moving to Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) Terminal 1 in December 2015 following the closure of Terminal 2.
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"We were never in favour of moving to Terminal 1. We really believe in Terminal 2," Fernandes told reporters after paying a courtesy call on Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal at the State Central Administrative Centre, Thursday.He said AirAsia was threatened with power and water cuts if it did not comply. "I fought very hard. We delayed (relocating to Terminal 1) until Mavcom (Malaysia Aviation Commission) and MAHB (Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd) said if we didn't move, they will be shutting the electricity and the water."So we had no choice. But we never gave up on our dream," he said, Thursday.
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He believed that by returning to Terminal 2, the airline would be able to help in increasing the number of tourist arrivals in Sabah to nine million by 2022.Fernandes also pitched in the idea to Shafie on extending flight routes to the State's east coast Tawau, Sandakan, and Lahad Datu districts as well as direct flights to Sarawak's Bintulu and Sibu.
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"I believe that the east coast holds strong potential as well as there are a lot of good beaches and other attractions there. Which is why reopening the terminal will allow to create at least 30,000 job opportunities and we are not talking rubbish because we have done it as Sabah tourism has a lot to do with Air Asia. We were the first who started it," he said, adding that there are now four direct flights from Kuala Lumpur to Tawau, where there was none the last time.He said the airline had not been able to grow much since it moved to Terminal 1. "We came to visit Shafie to present our case for reopening the low-cost terminal once again." Fernandes foresees AirAsia can expect to see 26 per cent annual growth in passenger numbers if it gets to operate in Terminal 2 again."We think Sabah is the perfect hub, situated between North Asia and Australia (Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney), as we have the confidence to start flights from Kota Kinabalu to India or Northern part of Asia like China, South Korea, and Japan with plans of bringing Air Asia X to Sabah."With this in mind, we believe that we can bring in nine million tourists by 2022, so we are looking forward to develop this low-cost terminal again. We really want to move back to Terminal 2 once again," he said.He said both Shafie and Federal Tourism Minister Datuk Mohamaddin Ketapi were open to the airline's proposed move."Terminal 1 is getting full and more airlines are coming to Sabah. So let us use the facilities we have in Terminal 2 and maximise it. Besides, Terminal 2 is ready for operations as nothing has really changed with all the facilities like check-in desks and baggage terminals still functional, meaning that we could move in within six months or as quickly as three months."I have always said that Sabah is the jewel in our crown. We never wanted to move out of Terminal 2 because it would hurt Sabah tourism and it has. So we hope we can go back in," he said, adding that the proposal was submitted to Mohamaddin Ketapi and Transport Minister Anthony Loke."We are hoping the State Government will accept the proposal as it will be more cost effective instead of building new airport."Besides that, we are also introducing flights connecting Kota Kinabalu with Perth, Sydney and Melbourne in Australia, as well as China, Japan, India and Korea." Meanwhile, Fernandes said AirAsia would be adding more items from the State on its new online shopping website, for Small Medium Enterprises (SME) which promotes products by Asean companies in the food, health, and fashion industries."The last time we came to Sabah, one of my employees ran off to buy prawns, so why not we advertise the prawns on our website which will be good for the local business here," he said.Additionally, he is also looking on how AirAsia can help in human capital development as they digitise their company.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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