Impounded buses not
AirAsia's
S'pore businessman approached
budget airline and offered to run shuttle service to Senai Airport,
says CEO
By Khushwant Singh
AirAsia's CEO Tony Fernandes was not his usual chirpy self when
Streats told him yesterday morning of a report that two buses
ferrying AirAsia passengers between Johor's Senai Airport and
Lavender MRT station was impounded on Tuesday evening.
He immediately asked for the newspaper article to be faxed
over.
In a telephone conversation tha followed, he told Streats that
AirAsia was not operating the two shuttle buses that were impounded
by the Land Transport Authority (LTA).
He said: "A Singapore entrepreneur approached us some time ago and
offered this service and when we asked, he said that all permits
and insurance were in order and all necessary requirements
fulfilled."
"We agreed to allow him to display the AirAsia logo on the buses
and to feature the shuttle bus service in our advertisements and on
our website."
"There was no contract, but AirAsia did pay him a fee." He would
not name the entrepreneur.
The free shuttle service never got off the ground as LTA moved in
on the day the service started.
It impounded a Malaysian-registered bus which had just arrived from
Senai and a Singaporean-registered bus which was about to leave for
Senai.
Passengers heading for Senai were asked to disembark.
Mr Fernandes said that AirAsia's Tuesday flights from Senai were
not affected and neither were yesterday's flights.
According to LTA, the two impounded buses were authorised only to
carry tourists between Singapore and Malaysia and were not licensed
by LTA to operate scheduled services or ferry passengers between
designated pick-up points.
Last December, LTA had turned down applications from Comfort Bus -
a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro - and a Malaysian bus operator to
ferry people between Singapore and Senai.
Mr Fernandes said: "Impounding the buses is an over-reaction. It's
a sad day for entrepreneurship."
"Singapore must learn how to deal with entrepreneurs and ideas need
to be fostered."
But irrepressible as ever, he added: "This is just a glitch and
entrepreneurs are fighters who will bounce back."
In a more humorous vein, he said: "It was fortunate that our ad
appeared yesterday on Page Two of The Straits Times and news of the
shuttle buses being impounded came out on Page Three."
"Readers would immediately discover that there will be no more free
bus service."
In a statement released on Tuesday, LTA warned that passengers on
unlicensed buses risk not being covered by insurance if they were
involved in an accident.
Operators of unlicensed bus services face a fine of up to $1,000
and a jail term of not exceeding three months.
Article published in Streats -
Thursday Edition, 4th March 2004