KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 14): In an apparent dig at the Express Rail Link's (ERL) recent ticket price hikes, AirAsia Group chief Tan Sri Tony Fernandes today said it was now cheaper to fly.

On Twitter today, he said, "On the ERL. It's a great product but it's expensive. Don't understand. They got all of AirAsia passengers. Cheaper to fly."

In another post, he said the low-cost airline had become unpopular in its fight against the rise in cost and its request for others in the industry to be more efficient.

"We became unpopular fighting against increase in cost and ask others in aviation to be more efficient to save the rakyat," he tweeted.

On Dec 1, ERL Sdn Bhd said the new fare for a one-way trip between KL Sentral and KLIA/klia2 would be raised from RM35 to RM55, starting next year.

Its chief executive officer Noormah Mohd Noor said the price revision was the first to be made since the service commenced operations almost 14 years ago.

The move however received public outcry with Serdang MP Dr Ong Kian Ming urging the government to suspend the proposed fare increase and instead open an inquiry to establish a reasonable price revision.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has said he is powerless to stop the ERL price hike as it is part of the concession agreement signed by Putrajaya with YTL Corporation in 1997, when Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was prime minister.

In his winding-up speech at the 69th Umno general assembly last week, he said Putrajaya was forced to concede to the fare hike, as it would otherwise have to pay RM2.9 billion in compensation to ERL Sdn Bhd, in which YTL Corporation is a major shareholder.