KOTA KINABALU: United Borneo Front (UBF) has questioned the federal government’s rationale for forcing budget airline AirAsia to leave the low-cost carrier terminal (LCCT) here.
UBF leader Jeffrey Kitingan contended that the move, if implemented, would provide the government with a “backhanded tactic” to force yet more oppressive cabotage policies on Sabahans.
“Policies under the Transport Ministry are favourable to the peninsular operators to the detriment of consumers in Sabah and Sarawak,” he said,
He was commenting on AirAsia boss Tony Fernandez’s disclosure that the carrier is being forced to reconsider expansion plans as the ministry has indicated that it must move operation to the more expensive Kota Kinabalu International Airport by June.
Fernandez said that the shift would mean a ticket price hike for passengers to and from Sabah.
Jeffrey said the shift was unwarranted.
“Since AirAsia is the main operator at the low-cost carrier terminal in Kota Kinabalu, Fernandez’s views should be seriously considered and deliberated by affected stakeholders in the state.
“If the decision by the federal government is going to affect tourist arrivals and much-needed income and development to the state, then the country has failed to address the development needs of the Borneo states,” he said in a statement here today.
Jeffrey, who was a former PKR vice-president, said that the federal government was “in breach of the commitment it made in London on July 9, 1963, in breach of the principles of the Commonwealth and the United Nations as well as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)”.
“If the federal government fails to listen to AirAsia’s complaints and instead uses that as an excuse to move the hub to Labuan, we will consider this as grounds for complaint to the international organisations.
“The unfair federal goverment’s cabotage policies are directly and indirectly causing economic hardship to the people of Sabah.
“This is in breach of human rights to have a better quality of life and equitable access to prosperity in this nation,” said Jeffrey. Part of UBF demands
Jeffrey said that the Sabah government must be resolute in protecting its right for the state to remain as the hub for international and domestic operations and fight for more open sky rights.
He said that one of the seven core demands of the UBF is to get the unfair cabotage policies abolished.
He added that the policies had raised the prices of goods and other logistic costs by forcing shipments to go through Port Klang and failing to give Kota Kinabalu full open-sky rights to operate as the international hub for Sabah and Sarawak.
Fernandez has said that the airline was adamant about keeping its operations at Terminal 2, as the low-cost terminal is called.
He said any shift would affect tourist arrivals in the state capital as well as cause a hike in ticket prices, with passenger service charges rising to RM51 from the current RM25.
The airline has put on hold its plan for expansion to new destinations from Kota Kinabalu and has also warned that the current number of routes would be reduced.
AirAsia flies to 13 destinations in six countries including China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore and Taiwan and is estimated to carry around a million tourists into the state capital.
In December 2010, Transport Minister Kong Cho Ha said that the ministry had an understanding with AirAsia as well as other low-cost carriers to relocate to the new terminal once the RM1.4 billion upgrade was completed. - FMT
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