Air Asia & its associations

Recently, the MP of Wangsa Maju posed a question to his electorate regarding Air Asia and its perceived political associations. Unfortunately, I missed the opportunity to comment on it.

However, I think it is a pertinent question as it affects our ability to travel efficiently throughout our vast country (viz. between East and West Malaysia) and throughout the region and the world.

I don't think anyone of us is privy to the accounts of Air Asia. As such, we can only judge what we can see sans rumours.

What I see is an efficient corporation that has made travel within my country a breeze. Efficient online & realtime bookings complemented by wide spread of booking offices and agents throughout the country. The air tickets are mainly affordable compared to alternative means of transport and specially versus its competition.

One example, I once flew Sandakan to Kota Kinabalu in 40 minutes, simply because the ticket price was the same as the alternative - a 6-hour express bus journey.

How Air Asia can do it and remain profitable, I cannot say. We are not privy to its accounts. But as a consumer, I am pretty pleased as Punch!

In short, if a company is able to deliver to meet its customers' needs and make a profit in the process, I say, "Good for you!"

Should a responsible Government support such a corporation? I say "YES!"

On the other hand, if YB Wee suggests that all its "profit" is from Government subsidies, then, he should institute an official inquiry on the real situation instead of speculating without concrete proof of the real situation.

I believe YB Wee's citizens' feedback questions are a novel way to go. But at the same time, besides the question, he should provide some background on his take of the situation he is seeking feedback on. This was the main reason I was unable to formulate a response to this question until now. I was not fully aware of the background pertaining to this question.