I REFER to the article, “Different rates for different airports” (NST, Aug 2). Malaysian Aviation Commission executive chairman Dr Nungsari Ahmad Radhi said the passenger service charge (PSC) rates depended on facilities and services provided at airports.
How will facilities and services at an airport be categorised? Does this mean different PSC for flights from Penang to Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) and Kota Baru to KLIA, and international flights from Penang to Hong Kong and KLIA to Hong Kong?
This will create problems for Malaysia Airlines, Malindo Air and AirAsia as they will have to charge different rates for different airports. Foreign carriers flying to different points in Malaysia will also have the same problem.
Increase PSC, by all means, but standardise it. One rate for international flights, one for domestic.
As a traveller, I have not encountered paying different PSC at different airports for domestic or international flights in any country I have travelled to.
As someone who works with the aviation industry in the Asia Pacific, I would like to say that at every airport around the world, PSC is used by the airport operator for development.
In China, all airlines contribute five per cent of their revenue to the China Airport Development Fund. China has 266 airports in operation, but there is only one PSC rate for international flights, whether the flight is from Beijing Capital International Airport or Haikou Meilan International Airport. It is no secret that airport operators who invest in expansion or refurbishing will increase PSC to recoup their investment. The authorities should relook at the different rates for different airports. There should be one rate for domestic and one for international, irrespective of destination.
WILLIAM DENNIS
Subang Jaya, Selangor