AirAsia has responded to allegations fired at the budget airline by Tourism Malaysia chairman Wee Choo Keong

AirAsia responds to Tourism Malaysia chief's allegations

THE STAR

PETALING JAYA: AirAsia has responded to allegations fired at the budget airline by Tourism Malaysia chairman Wee Choo Keong, saying that they have consistently paid the passenger service charge to Malaysia Airports Holding Berhad (MAHB).

Wee had alleged that AirAsia had a "huge outstanding debt with MAHB that the company has failed to settle for years."

"AirAsia Berhad would like to clarify that such allegations are totally untrue. We deem these latest statements by Wee as intended to further injure the reputation of AirAsia which are now already a subject to a defamation litigation," said its chief executive officer Aireen Omar (pic) on Monday.

Aireen added that Wee's focus should be on publicising Malaysia and attracting tourist arrivals instead of attacking a public listed body, which has contributed to Malaysian tourism.

It was reported that Wee had allegedly lambasted his staff during the 4th China (Beijing) International Tourism Expo 2016 after seeing an AirAsia bunting put up alongside other promotional material at the Tourism Malaysia booth."AirAsia would like to highlight that Wee's position as the chairman of Tourism Malaysia comes with a higher degree of responsibility to the tourism industry," said Aireen.