Tony Fernandes laments lack of objection to PSC hike

PETALING JAYA: AirAsia Group chief executive officer Tony Fernandes has lamented that there are not enough “voices” from the industry protesting against the move to impose a hike in the passenger service charge (PSC) for those taking international flights to non-Asean destinations from klia2.

The Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) had revised the PSC and from next month, those using klia2 will have to pay the same PSC of RM73 as other airports, up from RM50.

“Travel is not (only) for the rich anymore, travel is for the masses.

“So Mavcom and Malaysia Airports (MAHB) have to realise there are two types of travellers. There are low-cost travellers where every penny makes a difference and there are full service travellers,” Fernandes told The Star in an interview.

He reiterated that the facilities at the airport should commensurate with the charges.

“If I’m flying out of klia2, and I’m paying the same as KLIA1 (Kuala Lumpur International Airport), I don’t think that’s fair. My passengers have to walk miles to get to their gate. At KLIA1, they get a train. That’s the number one difference,” he said.

He also cited the difference in departure lounge sizes and more.

Fernandes said customer service would be one of AirAsia’s main focus in 2018, with substantial investment in the sales force.

“I want to make our customers really happy. I think we can be much better than we are. I think we have to be asking ourselves, what our failings are. I want to be able to respond to our customers quickly, our guests quickly, (so they can) get a refund, or (ask) a question.

“We do respond, but I think we’re slow sometimes in our responses, we’re bureaucratic in our responses. I want to be slick,” he said in the interview with The Star.

Fernandes attributed AirAsia’s success to always putting people first.

“I think we try hard to make the experience as real as possible; in terms of our cabin crew, in terms of the food; it’s not prepared by some French chef in the middle of nowhere, it’s local food, it’s people food, it’s functional.

“Our crew is as real as they come, our seats are made to be as comfortable as they can with the limitations that we have,” he said.

Fernandes said apart from being a people-based and a “functional, simple” airline, AirAsia was also trying to be more technologically savvy.

“We started the first dotcom website in Asia, AirAsia.com, where you could actually buy seats. I think Malaysia Airlines followed seven to eight years after us, and so did Singapore Airlines.

“I don’t benchmark myself against other airlines – I benchmark with who’s the best in the world. Amazon is one of the best in the world in terms of e-commerce, so we’ve got to try and be as good as them. They’re very good at replying to customers quickly, live; there’s technology there. So that’s the big drive for me,” he said.

Fernandes said he aimed to make AirAsia the AliBaba and Amazon of travel.

“Lots of things coming up over the next year to do that. 2018 in one word? Digital,” he said.

Fernandes also to use data and technology to improve the airline’s reliability and on-time performance, learn more about their customers and provide a better, personalised flying experience.

“Every airline is going to have delays, it’s how you manage delays. So all those things are my goal in 2018,” he added.

In the interview, Fernandes also spoke about his marriage in October to South Korean, Chloe.

He said he was now more focused.

“I’m driving my staff crazy because I’m much more focused now.

“Focus is my key word in life now. It’s been great. I enjoy it, I enjoy going back home, I enjoy doing things with someone else.”

Asked if he went down on one knee to propose, he joked: “No, because I’m too old. And my knees are giving me problems.

“This one, particularly, my meniscus was torn at the time,” he said, smacking his right knee.

Fernandes, however, showed his romantic side by popping the question at the Parisian restaurant where the couple first met.

“It was closed, it was very cold. And I did something I never thought I would do. Of course, I did it with a bit of style, which I was laughed at (for) by other people.

“The fact that I proposed at the place I met her, and went through the whole rigmarole to make sure she understands – she didn’t realise it – was kind of not me. So it was kind of cool.” -FMT

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