Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) and its subsidiary are suing AirAsia Bhd and three others for defamation over three online articles linked to the contentious Passenger Service Charge (PSC) issue.
MAHB and Malaysia Airports (Sepang) Sdn Bhd (MASSB), through law firm Messrs Skrine, filed the Writ of Summons against AirAsia, AirAsia X Bhd, and their respective CEOs Riad Asmat and Benyamin Ismail at the Kuala Lumpur High Court Registry on Feb 19.
According to a copy of the Statement of Claim, the articles are "Statement from AirAsia Malaysia CEO Riad Asmat", "MAHB record profits come at a cost to the Malaysian economy and tourism industry", and "MAHB is duplicitous and misleading in its arguments", uploaded online on Dec 14 and 19, last year, and Feb 4 this year respectively.
The two plaintiffs claimed that the three articles, which were carried on the budget airline's website, defamed them by alleging that it was them who increased the PSC from RM50 to RM73 when it was the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) that imposed the increase.
The plaintiffs claimed that the articles painted them as greedy, of questionable ethics, selfish, unscrupulous, unethical, and/or reckless in their alleged imposition of the higher PSC without concern for the welfare of air travellers, the wider economy, and the various airlines; which allegedly cause these airlines to shut down their businesses.
They alleged that the articles made it seem like they were deceitful in their media statement “MAHB Clarifies on Airport Passenger Service Charge and Condition of Use” published on Feb 3.
They also claimed that the articles painted them as attempting to confuse and/or mislead the public with the Feb 3 media statement, as well as claiming that they (plaintiffs) provided embarrassingly low-level services at KLIA2, which are inferior to those provided at KLIA, among others.
Apology and damages demanded
MAHB and MASSB alleged that the four defendants published the three articles as part of a smear campaign to portray the two plaintiffs as a bullying monopoly burdening air travellers and inhibiting access to air travel, while simultaneously painting AirAsia and AirAsia X as noble enablers of access to air travel in opposition to the PSC for the interest of the general public and/or air travellers.
"By reason of the publication of the impugned articles and impugned statements, the plaintiffs have been seriously injured in their credit, goodwill, trading and business reputation and has been brought into public scandal, odium, and contempt," the Statement of Claim said.
MAHB and MASSB claimed that the four defendants not only refused to comply with the plaintiffs' letter of demand dated Feb 11 to remove the three articles within seven days (from Feb 11), but that the defendants further defamed them via uploading of the article "AirAsia responds to MAHB letter of demand to retract and withdraw press statements" on the same day (Feb 11).
Through the Writ of Summons, the plaintiffs seek an injunction to compel the defendants to permanently remove the articles from AirAsia's Newsroom segment and any other websites they may have within 48 hours of the court order being issued.
The plaintiffs seek an order to compel the defendants to publish an unreserved and unqualified public apology to the plaintiffs in English dailies The Star, the New Straits Times, business daily The Edge, online English news portal The Malay Mail, AirAsia Newsroom, and social media platform Twitter, within 48 hours of the said order being issued.
The plaintiffs seek a permanent injunction to restrain the defendants from further publishing, posting, disseminating and/or sharing the three articles and any other similar statements of the same defamatory effect.
MAHB and MASSB also seek general, exemplary and/or aggravated damages, five percent annual interest on the damages amount from a date that the court deems fit until the date of full settlement of payment by the defendants, costs, and any other relief deemed fit by the court.
Meanwhile, during case management of the matter in the chambers of Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Mohd Firuz Jaffril, the legal action has been set for hearing on Sept 6.
Law firm Messrs Bodipalar Ponnudurai De Silva represents all four defendants.
AirAsia and MAHB have been locked in a bitter tussle over the PSC issue, with the low-cost airline recently launching a petition to protest the RM23 increase to PSC for passengers travelling beyond Asean from RM50 to RM73 per person.
The two companies are already embroiled in a separate legal battle since last year over PSC collection, with MAHB demanding AirAsia and AirAsia X to pay RM36.12 million in unpaid PSC. - Mkini
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