Tony Fernandes’ car is ground zero in airport tax hike spat
By Yow Hong Chieh, The Malaysian Insider
SEPANG, Dec 2 — Parked just outside Coffee Bean at the low-cost carrier terminal (LCCT) here is an unlikely focal point of AirAsia’s fight against a recent airport tax hike — a white Peugeot 308cc.
Prevented from putting up anti-tax hike displays in the terminal, AirAsia staff have transformed their boss Tan Sri Tony Fernandes’ convertible into a striking display for the campaign, armed with nothing but posters and a miniature Christmas tree.
An equally festive message on the bonnet read, “Help Tony share the holiday spirit. Take a picture for beautiful, lasting memories,” and urged the public to share their photos on AirAsia’s Facebook and Twitter pages.
Several groups of AirAsia staff were seen posing for pictures next to the makeshift billboard.
Malaysian Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) staff were also seen taking photos of the car from afar with digital cameras.
This latest publicity stunt by the budget airline comes just a day after MAHB clamped down on AirAsia’s anti-tax hike campaign materials at the terminal.
The airport operator had removed posters and confiscated stickers protesting the levy on the grounds that unauthorised display materials were no allowed in the terminal.
AirAsia appears to have taken MAHB’s message to heart, proceeding at pace today to decorate all privately owned property — including Fernandes’ car — with its trademark red-and-white posters and stickers.
“We are not violating anything by putting the (campaign) materials on the car, which belongs to Tony.
“Whatever it is, it’s private property,” an AirAsia spokesman told The Malaysian Insider.
AirAsia staff at the sales counter could also be seen wearing the stickers on their uniforms and placing them on boarding passes and luggage tags.
While few members of the public took photos of the car, many were supportive of AirAsia’s campaign.
“I think putting the posters on the car is genius. You can’t put them in the airport so put it on private property,” said Felixon Jawing from Kuching.
The 18-year-old student admitted he did not know much about the airport tax hike but said he felt any increase would be a burden on passengers.
Balan, 60, a plantation manager who flies to east Malaysia often, said it was good the airline was attempting to put the tax hike in the public spotlight.
“If the tax goes up, definitely it will affect everybody, so definitely we support this,” he said.
“I think he has a lot of public support. We are flying in and out and the tax will be a problem.”
