AirAsia Group CEO Tan Sri Tony Fernandes says a meeting will be taking place between the Transport Ministry, AirAsia and MAHB to discuss the ground sinking problems and other issus affecting his airline at klia2. – Reuters file pic, July 27, 2015.
Fernandez said the low-cost carrier had repeatedly stated that the airport was not ready for use and AirAsia had initially refused to relocate operations there as it had expected such incidents to happen.
"I have lost patience. Whether I am popular or not, I don't care, I will say what I feel," he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur today.
He said that MAHB had to rectify the situation in klia2 and was not supposed to wait until such an incident happened before taking action.
"MAHB has to rectify, cannot hide it anymore. Of course, now we don't have any safety issues yet but we cannot wait until it happens," he said.
"We are very sad as we have brought this up several times. We didn't want to move, the airport wasn't ready. Now, look at what has happened," he said, adding that Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai had taken a proactive step in resolving the issue but not MAHB.
"He (Liow) asked for a meeting tomorrow, but MAHB has to take responsibility."
Venting his frustrations on Twitter today, Fernandes said that Air Asia Bhd CEO Aireen Omar had to keep "wasting her time" with making trips to MAHB to sort out the matter.
"Sad that my ceo @aireenomar has to waste her time keep going to malaysia airports to sort something that should never have happened," he said via his Twitter handle @tonyfernandes.
In a series of tweets on the issue, Fernandes also lashed out at MAHB, saying that their response to sinking was "ridiculous", urging the airport authority to improve themselves.
"The response from malaysia airports that this is to be expected is ridiculous. The board and management need a strong hard look at themselves," he added.
Earlier today, Aireen was reported as saying by Bloomberg that klia2 was sinking, with cracks appearing in the taxiway and water forming pools that planes must drive through.
The defects, she had warned, could cause flight delays, increase wear and tear on planes and pose potential safety risks.
Bloomberg said that though take-offs and landings were not affected, Air Asia, which is the terminal's biggest user, has asked Malaysian authorities to fix the problems before any untoward incidents happened.
Fernandes, who had previously slammed MAHB and the transport ministry for a myriad of problems before the airport was opened after much delay in May last year, also posted a picture of a plane on the klia2 tarmac with its wheels twisted.
"Is this to be expected. An 8-hour delay due to plane slipping of chocks. The board has to take responsibility," he said.
klia2 had been riddled with issues even before it was opened leading to AirAsia wanting to delay its moving of operations to the new terminal.
It has also attracted concern over the ballooning of costs from RM1.7 billion to RM4 billion for construction works, which caused several delays to its opening.
An independent audit committee was set up in December to conduct a detailed investigation of the sinking surfaces.
Fernandes said that the operational costs of the nation's low-cost carrier had also risen following the damages to the aircraft because of bumps on the tarmac.
He, however, refused to elaborate on the costs incurred by AirAsia.
"People say that I am proud because we refused to move, but look at what has happened now, look at the airport now," he said.
- TMI
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