KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 23): Tan Sri Tony Fernandes again called for the improvement of the infrastructure of Malaysian airports following the technical glitch that has occurred at both terminals of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA and klia2).
Speaking at the AirAsia Foundation press conference today, the AirAsia Group Bhd chief executive officer said there has not been an indication when all the issues affecting the two airports in Sepang will be completely resolved.
"At the moment we have no real update from Malaysian Airports [Holdings Bhd (MAHB)]," said Fernandes. "At this point we don't have any clarity on when it will be fixed but we are managing."
He, however, highlighted that the airline is working closely with the airport operator to minimise the disturbances caused by the matter.
"While it is clear I am not a huge fan of MAHB, this is not something we intend to capitalise on. All companies have issues, including AirAsia, and we should work together to make sure the guests are not badly affected.
"But I think in line with improving tourism, we really need to improve our airport infrastructure," he added.
Fernandes was not able to disclose the number of flights under AirAsia that has been affected by the technical glitch, but conceded that its on-time performance was badly affected.
"We are not as badly affected as KLIA. Our screens are not working at the moment so people don't know which [departure] gate to go to. Our on-time performance was badly affected," he said.
"In terms of financials, I don't think there will be huge financial impact [from the incident]," he added.
Both KLIA and klia2 have been affected by technical glitches since the night of Aug 21, 2019, with photos of flight schedules being written on whiteboards circulating on the social media. AirAsia operates its airlines from klia2.
As at 11am, MAHB said in its Twitter account that it is still stabilising its system.