The Ministry of Transport and AirAsia have released statements concerning the new KLIA2 terminal set to begin operations on May 2, in what appears to be a standoff between the governing ministry and the budget airline.
Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Aziz Kaprawi declared AirAsia would need to move to KLIA2 before the Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT), out of which it currently operates, is closed down on May 9, giving the airline one week after the opening of the new terminal to transfer all its operations.
Aziz said that the LCCT will be “empty” from May 9 onwards, and all relevant government agencies such as Immigration and Customs will have moved to KLIA2.
When asked if AirAsia had been notified, Aziz replied, “Yes, we have told them.”
AirAsia Bhd CEO Aireen Omar, however, has stated that the airline will still be based at the LCCT even after May 9.
In a statement released yesterday, she said while AirAsia was prepared to move to the KLIA2 terminal, the transfer would only be carried out until the new terminal’s issues had been addressed.
She said the recent Ikram Premier Consultings’ findings on the readiness of klia2 revealed that there were depressions on the taxiway/apron and runway which would necessitate periodic remedial measures to be undertaken on relevant areas.
“This will prove to be operationally disruptive to a hub airline such as AirAsia group which has about 400 aircraft movements in a day and at least 70 aircraft in its fleet in LCCT,” she said.
Aireen said it was crucial to ensure that remedial steps were undertaken prior to a transfer, which would mitigate risks relating to any potential aviation incidents.
“AirAsia also believes that the operational readiness and airport transfer (ORAT) period for a transfer to support the size of AirAsia’s operations would be substantially more than the two months prescribed by Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB), which in our opinion is unrealistic and overly-optimistic,” she said.
She said the ORAT for the transfer from the KLIA main terminal to LCCT in 2006 took longer than two months when AirAsia’s operations were significantly smaller.
“In addition, there are other key commercial, operational and contractual open items which are still undergoing discussions between AirAsia and MAHB which need to be resolved prior the transfer to klia2,” she said.
Story: The Star Online / Bernama
Reader Interactions