<![CDATA[AirAsia owes Malaysian airport operator millions of dollars in unpaid fees, court rules]>

Malaysia's low-cost carrier AirAsia has lost a long running and bitter legal feud with state-linked Malaysia Airports (MAHB) after a local court sided with the airport operator in a dispute over increased charges for passengers departing on international flights.

Both sides opted to go down the legal route after failing to amicably settle their differences over a steep increase in July 2018 to the passenger service charge (PSC) for international flights departing Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (KLIA 2), which serves budget carriers, is managed by a subsidiary of MAHB and functions as the de facto hub for AirAsia.

The popular budget carrier, Southeast Asia's largest, had refused to comply with the increase of the PSC from 50 (US$12.15) to 73 ringgit, claiming it could not stomach passing on the increase to its customers given KLIA 2's severely poor standards " including dirty toilets and uneven runway surfaces.

It launched countersuits after MAHB took to the courts to recover PSC funds owed to it, but on Thursday the High Court threw these out and ruled in favour of the airline operator.

Malaysia's The Edge news portal said in a report that MAHB is owed at least 40.6 million ringgit (US$9.87 million) in unpaid PSC.

AirAsia's lawyers have said they are appealing the decision.

The commercial dispute has been under the national spotlight more than other because AirAsia's colourful CEO has repeatedly taken to social media to voice his grievances about MAHB.

As the court decision was handed down on Thursday, Tony Fernandes again took to his favourite social media platform, Twitter.

"For 18 years all we have asked is to have an airport that's a partner. Like we have with GE Aviation, or Airbus or Credit Suisse," he wrote.

"Not someone who just says take it or leave it to their largest customer and more importantly to the passengers. I'm so disappointed and frustrated."

Tony Fernandes, chief executive officer of AirAsia. Photo: Bloomberg alt=Tony Fernandes, chief executive officer of AirAsia. Photo: Bloomberg

Fernandes, who once worked for Warner Music Group and bought AirAsia for a token 1 ringgit in 2001, has complained about KLIA 2 since his airline moved its Kuala Lumpur hub to the facility in 2014.

Among his gripes have been cracks in the runway, pools of water on the tarmac, dirty toilets " and in one recent instance, the presence of a beehive.

"Now we have bees in KLIA 2. We got maggots, rats and now bees. Maybe a zoo or KLIA 2 honey," the airline boss wrote on Twitter in January adding: "Could be new income which could reduce airport tax. Jokes aside, this is dangerous for my passengers and my staff. Will the non-communicative new CEO solve this?"

The airport operator later said it was quite common for bees to congregate at airports and that it would fumigate the area if the bees did not disperse.

Fernandes also has a sour relationship with the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) " a government body that sets PSC levels whose objectives he has often questioned.

In his Twitter barrage on Thursday, he again asked why Mavcom existed.

"Please tell me what Mavcom does. Slows down our growth by taking forever to approve routes? Change unfairly to our guests' airport tax. No regulation on airport?," he wrote, in apparent reference to the court ruling which struck out AirAsia's bid to have the government body arbitrate its dispute with MAHB.

Shukor Yusof, a veteran Malaysia-based aviation industry analyst, said he sympathised with Fernandes's frustrations.

"Notwithstanding the hygiene at KLIA washrooms " yes they are unsightly " AirAsia is obliged to pay now that the court has ruled," Shukor, founder of Endau Analytics, told This Week in Asia.

"We understand AirAsia's predicament and feel its grouses to a certain extent are substantiated. There are numerous aviation issues, including PSC, that needs to be resolved," he added.

"Tony has raised a valid question: what is the raison d'etre of Mavcom?"

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

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