Azran Osman Rani
AIRASIA X IS THREATENING to move UK services to continental Europe because of government taxes on air fares. The chief executive of the Malaysian low-cost airline, Azran Osman Rani, said he had been forced to consider reducing the number of services between Stansted and Kuala Lumpur because of politicians' stubborn stance on air passenger duty (APD).
"We are disappointed with the Conservative-lead government," he said. "It said it would look at APD and try and reward the most efficient operations and aircraft, rather than the per passenger levy. But the issue seems to have slipped off the radar screen, and so we will have to make our choices accordingly."
Osman Rani said AirAsia X had not been involved in any dialogue with the government or any pressure group regarding the APD issue.
He said the airline was too small a player to influence Whitehall mandarins when compared to the "big boys who fly into the UK dozens of times each day".
"We will vote with our feet rather than try and effect change," he said. "I don't think we'll pull out completely, but we may re-deploy more capacity to a continental destination. That's already happening today. The number of people arriving in my part of the world via a European transit point having originated in the UK is quickly growing."
AirAsia X currently flies daily from Stansted to Kuala Lumpur, but had increased services to nine-per-week during the summer months.