KUALA LUMPUR — August 1, 2019: Former international trade and industries minister Tan Sri Rafidah Abdul Aziz today said that last year’s increment of the passenger service charge (PSC) from RM50 to RM73 is burdensome for the public.

Rafidah, who is also the chairman of AirAsia X Bhd, added that was the reason why the airline refused to collect the charge at the “new unfair rates”, which was implemented in July last year.

“Airline is only the collecting agent for MAHB (Malaysian Airport Holdings Berhad)…and we did not collect the taxes at the new unfair rates because it is burdensome for the public,” read Rafidah’s remark on Instagram.

The supposed unfairness of the current PSC rate has been constantly reiterated by AirAsia Bhd, especially after the low-cost airline group lost a court case against MAHB for not collecting the charge at the new rate.

AirAsia had last month filed an appeal over the court’s ruling, which ordered the company to pay a combined amount of RM40.73 million in unpaid PSC and RM792,381.74 in unpaid late payment charges.

“In the event we lose in the highest courts of appeal, it is passengers, especially Malaysian travellers who will have to pay the differential MAHB is charging. We believe that the people of Malaysia should have the right to a fair deal,” AirAsia founders Tan Sri Tony Fernandes and Datuk Kamarudin Meranun said in a statement last month.

In the statement, they pointed out that AirAsia opposed the new PSC rate because they believed that passengers using the inferior KLIA2 should not be forced to pay the same charges as that of the better-equipped Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

http://mole.my/current-psc-is-burdensome-for-malaysians-radfidah/