MAHB challenges AirAsia X move
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) is believed to have demanded AirAsia X Bhd to exclude it from the list of unsecured creditors under the airline’s RM63 billion debt restructuring.
People familiar with the matter said MAHB had challenged AirAsia X’s classification of the airport operator as an unsecured creditor.
This is due to AirAsia X’s overdue payment amounting to RM78 million in aeronautical charges including RM60 million in passenger service charges (PSC).
“MAHB will take a big haircut for the receivables due from AirAsia X if it is classified as an unsecured creditor,” a source told the New Straits Times (NST).
The source said the payment could also be delayed until AirAsia X completed its debt restructuring.
AirAsia X and MAHB neither confirmed nor denied about the latter’s demand, when contacted.
Another source said AirAsia X would want to manage its cash flow by deferring payment and obtaining haircut from creditors, following severe liquidity constraints in meeting its debt and other financial commitments.
As at June 30 this year, AirAsia X had an unaudited deficit in shareholders’ equity of RM960 million.
Its unaudited current liabilities of RM3.38 billion exceeded unaudited current assets of RM1.39 billion by RM1.99 billion.
“Hence, the government should partake in resolving the dispute between MAHB and AirAsia X,” the source said.
Bloomberg Intelligence transport analyst James Teo said MAHB did not want to be in the list as it simply means it would not get the amount owed to it.
“As a matter of principle, MAHB will probably not forgo (the PSC owed). AirAsia X may not have the money to pay either,” he told the NST.
AirAsia X had reportedly classified all its creditors, mainly aircraft maker Airbus and lessors, as unsecured.
The low-cost long-haul airline would require 75 per cent of its creditors agreeing to its restructuring scheme involving RM2 billion current debts and RM61 billion of future liabilities, which are mainly linked to purchases and leasing of aircraft.
A business daily reported that MAHB had sent a legal letter on October 14 to AirAsia X, eight days after the airline announced its restructuring scheme.
Another analyst said MAHB would not be fazed with the potential AirAsia X exit from Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (klia2) if the dispute was not resolved.
“Another player can certainly come in to fill in the vacuum. This will come especially once the pandemic is under control and air travel begins to resume normally again.
“Hence, MAHB shouldn’t be surprised that AirAsia X is overstating its importance in attempting to class it as an unsecured creditor,” the analyst said.
Meanwhile, MAHB announced to Bursa Malaysia today that its subsidiary Malaysia Airports (Sepang) Sdn Bhd had filed a suit against AirAsia X at the High Court here.
The suit filed on October 22 seeks to claim RM78.16 million being the outstanding amount for various aeronautical charges.
They comprised PSC, passenger service security charges, aerobridge charges, aircraft parking charges, check-in counter charges, landing charges and late payment charges.
Source: NST