AirAsia boss blasts AoT fees as excessive

[Sri Ramani K. 0]

haiyah, here also the same thingy.

 

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http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/aviation/25230/airasia-boss-blasts-aot-fees-as-excessive

 

The lack of policies to attract budget tourists and to promote no-frills carriers is hampering the growth of Thailand's tourism, says Tony Fernandes, chief executive of AirAsia Group, Asia's largest low-cost carrier (LCC).

 

Fernandes: High fees damage Thai tourism

 

Thai tourism has lost out to Asean neighbours Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines as a result, he added.

 

"Thailand's tourism is the best in Asean, without a doubt, but don't think you can always get the tourists without working hard," he told the Bangkok Post.

 

Mr Fernandes said negative factors such as political infighting did not necessarily drive foreign tourists away.

 

Air Asia, he said, gave Thailand's tourism a shot in the arm after the blockade of Bangkok's two airports toward the end of last year by carrying many passengers to Thailand. "People will fly if the price is right. People are not so scared of bombs," he added.

 

The Malaysian executive singled out what he termed an excessive passenger service charge (PSC), or airport tax, by Airports of Thailand (AoT) as a major hindrance to tourism.

 

"The 700-baht airport tax is just too high. That's almost half the airfare we charge in a lot of cases," he said. "It's a shame that AoT is holding back the growth of Thai tourism."

 

AoT's charge is among the highest in Asia, he said. He advocated slashing it for budget carriers to 250 baht, the price in Malaysia, to reduce costs for travellers.

 

Malaysian airports increased overall passenger traffic to 26 million a year from 16 million after introducing an LCC strategy including a terminal dedicated to budget carriers, and reduced PSCs.

 

He wants the same measures in Thailand, especially because the fee is paid by passengers, not airlines.

 

"They (AoT) said their earnings are going to be affected a lot. I don't think they are looking at the long term, from the country's perspective or their own bottom line," he said. "It is a simple volume game. Do you want 1 million tourists by charging them 700 baht each, or do you want 10 million with a 250-baht charge? Similarly, AirAsia could charge 8,000 baht for a flight to Bangkok and have two flights a day. But why when we've got eight flights a day? We lowered the fares."

 

AoT's argument that it reduced landing and parking fees for all airlines including LCCs contributes very little to the overall travel cost structure from the passengers' point of view, he said.

 

With a low-cost government strategy, its Thai sister airline, Thai AirAsia, should be able to boost annual passenger volume to 25 million in the next seven years from 4-5 million expected this year.

 

By then, Thai AirAsia should also have as many as 100 Airbus A320 jets in its fleet, up from 10 at the moment.