AirAsia vows to work with Phl gov't to keep fares low

SEPANG, Malaysia - Budget carrier AirAsia is committed to keeping its fares low for the Philippine market, but the management said it needs to work with the government to make sure costs are kept at a minimum.

"AirAsia always has a long wishlist. Importantly, we want to keep fares low. We've got to stimulate more demand; we're going to grow the market. For that, we need the lowest costs. And we've got to work with the government to make sure that we've got low passenger service charges," Steven Dickson, AirAsia ‎group head for ground and inflight operations told philstar.com.

Dickson said the country's P550 terminal fee is quite costly relative to AirAsia's average fares.

He added that the Kuala Lumpur-based business wants to work with the Philippine government to expand its facilities in the country, currently housed at the Terminal 4 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

"We've got great operation, great facility in Terminal 4 now, but we've got to improve the operations there, get it more efficient. We need to expand the facilities, so working with the government to develop our own space that will become our home and headquarters of AirAsia Philippines is really important," Dickson said.

Dickson's statement comes after AirAsia Malaysia transferred its operations to the newly opened Kuala Lumpur International Airport Terminal 2 or klia2, the world's biggest purpose-built terminal for low-cost carriers.

The P54.5-billion new airport, built to decongest the nearby Low-Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT), houses over 255 retailers including restaurants, cafes and fashion labels.

Raghbir Singh Bhall, senior manager for operations at klia2, said the 257,000 square-meter airport has 68 gates, 70 immigration counters, 80 aerobridges, eight taxi ways and runways with a capacity for 80 aircraft per hour. It also has a Skybridge, which connects the main terminal to the satellite building.

"We are the first airport in Asia and third in the world to have a Skybridge," Singh Bhall said. 

The new airport currently houses AirAsia, AirAsia X, Indonesia AirAsia, Thai AirAsia, AirAsia Zest, Malindo Airways, Lion Air, Tiger Airways and Cebu Pacific Airways.

Traveling to and from the city has also improved with the KLIA ekspres, which reduced the previous travel time of one hour and 30 minutes by bus or car to just around 35 minutes. Passengers can also take the bus or taxi in the airport's central ticketing system.

With klia2, Singh Bhall said they expect 45 million passengers in a year, well beyond LCCT's capacity of 10 million passengers.