Mavcom is doing just "fine", thank you very much

 Some of the finest jobs in the aviation sector are at Mavcom, some may say ...

Puchong, Sept 11:  Set up to regulate economic and commercial matters relating to civil aviation, Mavcom is doing a fine job. Literally!

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Of course, Mavcom doesn't just punish and penalise its golden geese. It also has to ensure airlines like Air Asia and AAX collect RM1 in regulatory service charge from every passenger that departs the country's airports (KLIA, KLIA2 and Senai, the only airport not under the MAHB). The RSC is meant solely for Mavcom to finance its day-to-day operations (read the FAQ about Mavcom to know what else it does other than fine and charge RSC). 

How the "fine" money is spent, I'm not sure. But here's the thing: for non-compliance, Mavcom can impose financial penalties "not more than 5 per cent of a corporate firm's annual turnover for the preceding financial year."' MAHB (RM4.85 billion revenues in 2018) can, therefore, count itself lucky for getting away with only RM1.18 million in fine this time. 

Air Asia and AAX were not as lucky. They were each slapped the maximum RM200k for their respective first-time violations. 

Perhaps Tony Fernandes should start praising the Mavcom people sky-high instead of saying it as it is ...

Read also:
Mavcom has failed Malaysia's aviation sector,  says Tony Fernandes
Loke distances himself from AirAsia-Mavcom spat
7 sebab Mavcom gagal majukan sektor penerbangan awam, kata Tony Fernandes

Be a sport, Mr Mayor of KL

TTDI, Friday: The Residents' Association of Taman Tun Dr Ismail has been a pain for DBKL in recent times. It has  taken the City Hall to court over a massive condo project because it was going to eat into their Kiara Rimba park, forced the authorities to scrap a proposed multimillion ringgit six-lane highway across the neighbourhood, prevented the MRT  from building a pedestrian bridge that would connect TTDI with a station outside the residential estate. The RA gave former FT Minister Ku Nan for defending the condo project and is giving current FT Minister Khalid Samad a hard time for defending Ku Nan's actions (DBKL comes directly under the FT Ministry). If the Mayor of Kuala Lumpur does not love the RA because of these antics and because it seems interested only in giving him a harrowing time, perfectly understandable. But don't take it out on the Zumba ladies lah, Datuk Bandar ... 

The Mole, which is based in TTDI, has the story:

Who are DBKL's "Top Management"?

Click H E R E

Read also:

Residents cry foul over sudden suspension of a public heath  program at their park

Now, with lower PSC, maybe everyone can fly again

"That is a fight for another day." - Tony Fernandes, Air Asia co-founder, on the airport departure levy that passengers using KLIA may have to pay.  (AirAsia celebrates Merdeka with lowered PSC)

KL, Sept 2: Some of us were happy to vilify Tony F over Air Asia's stubbornness in not wanting to collect from its outbound passengers the RM73 passenger service charge that it was supposed to. It was supposed to because Mavcom, the country's regulator, said so. The money collected is meant wholly for  Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad, the already-profitable airport operator. Air Asia argued that because it was a low-cost carrier and also because its passengers were using inferior facilities at KLIA2 (compared with the facilities at the main terminal KLIA), they shouldn't be made to pay the same amount passengers or other airlines at KLIA were paying. So Air Asia started collecting only RM50 from its passengers instead of RM73. The jaws of some of us, including bloggers, dropped to the floor, and we exclaimed: "Who the duck does he think he is?!" And so we lambasted him. Tony's new CEO Riad Asmat decided to join the fight for lower PSC for his pax and was quickly taken to court to shut him up (MAHB suit against Air Asia over defamatory statements to be heard this Friday/Sept 6). 

Pic NST

But then you can't shut up the Old Man, can you? Can't sue him, either, for stating the obvious:

".. Obviously, if they (airlines) are charging passengers low fare and the Government charges such passengers the same exit tax with those in high-end flights, it is not fair." - Dr M: Government may review departure levy, Aug 16

Now that it's done, quite obviously some of us owe Tony Fernandes an apology for unfairly judging him when he was championing that cause for fairness. Also, perhaps MAHB may want to drop the lawsuits against AA - what purpose will they serve now, really? And, after the PSC, maybe we will all be more circumspect and start making the right noise about other unreasonable, unfair tax regimes. We can start with that other tax against passengers, the airport departure levy. The one Tony said he may fight another day.

Read also, my two previous articles on the levy:
Now, can everyone still fly? - July 22
Countdown to a potentially ill-fated VMY2020 Part ll, July 23
Related article:
Mavcom: New PSC rates in Jan 2020 will be more equitable - Aug 12