MAHB: No plans to reduce landing fees at Langkawi International Airport

Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) has no plans to reduce the landing fees charged to airline companies at Langkawi International Airport.

MAHB Senior General Manager Operations Services Datuk Azmi Murad said the company must accept the rate decided by the government.

He said this to reporters after a ceremony to place a donation box for the Warrior Fund 2013 here on Friday.

He was commenting on the recent proposal by former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad for MAHB to review the landing charges at Langkawi International Airport to attract more direct flights to the island.

Dr Mahathir was confident that with the reduction of the landing fees, more direct flights to Langkawi from other countries could be made, thus further increasing the presence of tourists in the island resort.

Azmi said this year, MAHB expected an increase in passenger traffic at around 45 million compared with 39.9 million last year.

"This follows the entry of new airlines namely Malindo Air, and secondly, we see that Malaysia Airlines has increased its capacity to its new route, Dubai.

"We also see that new airline companies have started to operate here such as Air France and Iraq Air, and this has shown that MAHB has actually exceeded its initial target considering that as of August this year, some 30.4 million passengers have used our services, or a growth of 23 per cent.

"We are confident the number will reach 45 million this December," he said.