AirAsia chief renews Twitter attack on ‘Kings of spin’ MAHB
The Malay Mail Online – 9 hours agoRELATED CONTENT
- Fernandes has slammed MAHB as the 'Kings of spin' over their alleged financial …
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 22 — AirAsia chief executive Tan Sri Tony Fernandes again trained his guns on Malaysia Airport Holdings Berhad (MAHB), calling the airport operator the “Kings of spin” over their alleged financial mismanagement and the delay in completion of KLIA2.
Responding to a statement posted on MAHB's website, the budget airline boss claimed that the national airport operator is evading the real issues of cost overruns and the three-year delay in completing KLIA2 which will serve as the country's low-cost carrier hub.
“Another red herring from Mab (Malaysia Airport Holdings Bhd). Kings of spin,” he said on Twitter in response to a question fromThe Malay Mail Online today.
Earlier, MAHB said in its statement that they were instrumental in helping AirAsia achieve its success through a slew of incentive programmes, “despite it not being the airline that contributed the highest number of passengers or revenue”.
The airport operator also clarified that its financial performance had shown consistent profits yearly, having continually paid concession fees and taxes to the government, issued dividends to shareholders, paid incentives to airlines and remained profitable over the past 15 years since becoming public listed.
The statement was issued in response to tweets by Fernandes on Wednesday, blaming MAHB over the KLIA2 delay and for not managing their finances responsibly to bring down airport taxes.
Fernandes today fired back, saying that the incentives given to his airline were well deserved as AirAsia had spearheaded growth in the local airline industry.
“Of course we got incentives to develop routes. It was a growth incentive. We got the most because we grew at incredible rates.
“But it's tiny compared to what MAB earned,” he tweeted.
The recording industry executive-turned-airline owner said that MAHB must shoulder the financial responsibility for KLIA2 without passing the costs to consumers.
“They just trying to distract the main issue,” he said of the cost overruns and delay at the new terminal building.
“We want to make sure that their cost overruns not passed to the common man in higher charges.”
Fernandes' outburst on Twitter on Wednesday followed the announcement by national carrier Malaysia Airlines of its fourth straight quarterly loss in the last three months of 2013.
The AirAsia boss said taxpayers will end up having to shoulder the burden of the losses.
For the full year 2013, the national flagship chalked up RM1.17 billion in losses, almost three times as much as in 2012, when it lost RM433 million amid an aggressive cost-cutting campaign.
It said losses in the last quarter of 2013 fourth quarter were due to the ringgit depreciating, unrealised foreign exchange losses and finance costs.
Analysts have blamed a combination of stiff competition, poor management, change-resistant unions and government interference for the carrier’s poor performance.
In 2012, the carrier admitted it was in “crisis”, forcing it to implement a cost-cutting campaign centred on slashing routes and other measures.
In 2011, it chalked up a record RM2.5 billion loss.
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