AirAsia must move, says Najib

The Prime Minister wants the low cost carrier to move to the new KLIA2 by May 9.

HANOI: Low-cost carrier, AirAsia must move to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (KLIA2), as scheduled, on May 9.

Prime Minister  Najib Tun Razak said the government, however, through Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad, (MAHB) was prepared to listen to and discuss with them if there were any problems over the transfer.

“As a government, we must look at why they are reluctant to move but what I want to stress is for them to have a dialogue with the government, namely MAHB, to find a solution in the interest of both parties.

“If they’ve made a statement refusing to move, it seems like an arrogant statement but if they say they have a reason and they want to negotiate with the government, I feel this is more suitable,” he told Malaysian journalists after chairing a joint meeting with Malaysian industry players and Vietnam, here, today.

Najib is here on a three-day official visit to Vietnam which ends today.

He was asked to comment on a statement by AirAsia recently on its refusal to move to KLIA2 from the Low-Cost Carrier Terminal due to its concerns over security and flight operations at KLIA2.

The prime minister said, by right AirAsia should have referred any concern and problem on the move at an early stage and not when KLIA2 was about to open.

“Now that KLIA2 is almost completed, we cannot go back and they cannot say ‘we don’t want to move there’, because they have to move there,” he added.

Najib said the government had appointed an independent consultant, Ikram Premier Consulting, to evaluate the security level of KLIA2, and when the consultant had made a decision objectively, all parties must accept it.

- Bernama