SEPANG: There will be no increase in the passenger service charge (PSC) or airport tax nationwide this year, said Transport Minister Anthony Loke, despite the rebranding of Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) and klia2 as KLIA Terminal 1 and Terminal 2.
Loke, however, said the ministry would look into revising the PSC at KLIA Terminal 1 given a string of issues that the airport was facing such as the suspension of its aerotrain service and long queue at the immigration counters upon arrival.
"There's no increment of PSC this year…(But) we'll look into revising the PSC at KLIA Terminal 1. PSC is under the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom). As I said, we'll look into it and we'll discuss with Mavcom further," Loke told reporters after launching AirAsia's additional flights for the upcoming Hari Raya festival.
The current airport tax at KLIA, klia2 and other airports nationwide is RM11 for domestic destinations while international (Asean) and international (non-Asean) are RM35 and RM50 respectively.
On the suspension of aerotrain at KLIA Terminal 1, Loke said the ministry was discussing various options to improve the services at the airport. This included increasing the number of buses to shuttle travellers from the satellite building to the main terminal building.
He also said the ministry had asked airport operator Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) to have better preparation in terms of crowd management given the projection that there would be high passenger traffic during the upcoming festive season.
"As for airport management facility, we're prepared. But the immigration counters are beyond MAHB and the ministry. It's within the jurisdiction of the Immigration Department and the Home Ministry.
"I'm sure the Home Ministry is also taking a lot of efforts to improve the services at the immigration counters (at the airport)," Loke added.
On March 2, MAHB announced the suspension of its 25-year-old aerotrain operations at KLIA until further notice following a breakdown resulting in 114 passengers being stranded mid-way on the tracks.
Meanwhile, Loke is calling for other airlines in Malaysia besides Capital A Bhd's airline subsidiary AirAsia, to bring down the cost of air travel, especially during the festive season to allow more family and friends to be reunited.
"This is the second time this year I'm officiating AirAsia's special 'fixed fares' for the festive season and I'm deeply pleased that AirAsia is staying true to its commitment to support the government's initiative to lower fares during peak travel periods," he said.
AirAsia has launched 62 additional flights with 11,400 extra seats for 11 destinations between Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bharu to Sabah and Sarawak with fixed rates of RM199 and RM249 for one-way flight.
The destinations include Kuching, Sibu, Bintulu and Miri for Sarawak and Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan and Tawau for Sabah.
AirAsia Aviation Group Ltd group chief executive officer Bo Lingam said the airline was flying 64 aircraft and was looking to have the full 229 aircraft in its fleet by mid-year.
"Getting back to where we were pre-pandemic wasn't an easy feat but we're never one to shy away from challenges.
"In the last 21 years, we've flown close to 800 million guests at unbeatable prices and have offered countless of fixed fare campaigns during festive periods and we're only just getting started again," he said.