Warisan VP Junz Wong Courts AirAsia’s CEO for Sabah Airport Hub

28th Dec 2017

Warisan Sabah Vice President Junz Wong said this Thursday in an interview for Malaysian media that he believes the state could become an airline hub for airlines such as AirAsia X and that the tourism and service industries would bring a lot of benefits to Sabah.

Mr. Wong said:

I remember AirAsia founder Tony Fernandes had said that he would be more than willing to invest money in Sabah to build a new low-cost carrier terminal (LCCT) and make Sabah the hub for AirAsia X. Unfortunately, we lost that opportunity when the current Sabah government chose to comply with the federal Transport Ministry, and allowed AirAsia to transfer its operations to the current Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA), instead of allowing it to continue its operations at terminal two.

He also said that he wants to convince Tony Fernandes of AirAsia as well as other low cost carriers to use Sabah as their hubs. According to Wong, Kimanis would be a great spot for a second airport in the state:

Having a second airport can only be healthy for Sabah tourism as we can always have a contingency plan for our busy city, and it will also encourage healthy competition. I would propose that the state government gets 40 percent of shares.

He also said that the Warisan government is looking to enter a JV with AirAsia. According to him this would benefit both the airline and the state and the tourists would get the most out of the deal.

Wong commented:

I stress that we should not allow Sabah tourism which is one of our top four gross domestic product contributors to be manipulated or decided by the federal ministry or MAHB. If the federal ministry doesn't respond on when the new airport will be built, the Warisan Sabah government will push for a privatisation proposal. We could still convince Fernandes to make his dream come true of making Kota Kinabalu the hub for AirAsia X because compared to Bali, we are in the middle of all flight routes.

Wong also said that he believes the state government should take back the management of Kota Kinabalu International Airport from Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB), or build another Sabah airport, if that’s not possible.