'Relocate AirAsia ops to KKIA Terminal 1 fast'

Kota Kinabalu: Senator Datuk Chin Su Phin urged the Ministry of Transport to expedite the relocation of AirAsia operations to Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) Terminal 1. Chin pointed out that it was high time for AirAsia to move its operations to KKIA Terminal 1 because many of the facilities at KKIA Terminal 2 were worn out, including the toilets, which were inconvenient to users and foreign tourists.

Chin said this in his supplementary question to the Deputy Minister of Transport Datuk Ab Aziz bin Kaprawi during the question-and-answer session at the Dewan Negara sitting here.

Earlier, Aziz said the ministry would set a new date for AirAsia to relocate to KKIA Terminal 1 soon.

He said the initial date for the relocation was January 1 this year but AirAsia has delayed the move while waiting for the outcome of several applications, one of which was to maintain its existing passenger service charge of RM32 if the airline relocated to Terminal 1 rather than paying the current rate of RM65.

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Chin believed that it was his third time raising the same question in the Dewan Negara, and he trusted that the Deputy Minister of Transport would ensure the relocation be done as soon as possible.

Nonetheless, Chin asked why other low cost airlines such as Cebu Pacific Air seemed to have managed to relocate from Terminal 2 to Terminal 1 in January this year without any issues.

"Did the government strike an agreement with low cost airlines before the airlines acceded to relocate?"

Chin said KKIA Terminal 2 received a large number of foreign tourists daily, as well as domestic tourists from West Malaysia and Sarawak.

"Despite being called an international airport, the facilities at Terminal 2 are far behind international standards.

"Many foreign tourists are unaware that we have a first class KKIA Terminal 1 here, they often mistaken that Terminal 2 is KKIA!"

As a Sabahan living in Kota Kinabalu, Chin admitted that he was embarrassed by the inferior facilities at KKIA Terminal 2.

Hence, he hoped that MOT would reach an agreement with AirAsia as soon as possible so that the airline could to relocate its operations to KKIA Terminal 1.

"I do not wish to raise the same question for the fourth time at Dewan Negara," he added.

In response the supplementary question from Chin, Aziz said AirAsia has made several requests on its relocation to KKIA Terminal 1, unlike Cebu Pacific Airlines which has acceded to the government's directives to move.

Aziz said AirAsia has requested to use its own check-in system instead of the common system provided by Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB).

Aziz said the government was currently negotiating with MAHB to integrate AirAsia's system into the new terminal, which was a time-consuming process.

Meanwhile, Senator Tan Sri Datuk Sri Ibrahim Shah Abu Shah wanted to know the reason AirAsia was exempted from following the government's directive to relocate to Terminal 1 when all other airlines have done so.

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Ibrahim felt that business leaders often abide to the government policies when they first started their business, but upon achieving success, these businessmen became arrogant and egoistic. Ibrahim stressed that this was his personal view.

To that, Aziz said the government was now negotiating with AirAsia to offer the airline rebates when they relocated to Terminal 1.

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