KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 2): The Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) reiterated on Monday that airlines operating in and out of the country have the discretion on whether or not to impose a carbon fee on air travel.
Currently, national carrier Malaysia Airlines Bhd has made it voluntary for its passengers to pay the carbon levy.
“Mavcom does not provide any regulations on how to do it, because this is a requirement by the country. So, it is up to the airlines on how much and when they will impose the carbon levy,” said Mavcom's director of consumer and public affairs Pushpalatha Subramaniam at a media briefing on the newly-gazetted Malaysian Aviation Consumer Protection Code 2016.
Besides Malaysia Airlines, Capital A Bhd (KL:CAPITALA), which operates the low-cost airline AirAsia Bhd, has said that it will incorporate a “sustainability fee soon”.
Its chief executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, however, did not reveal details on this sustainability fee when he announced it in a letter to shareholders filed with Bursa Malaysia.
In February, Transport Minister Anthony Loke was reported as saying that local airlines can start charging a carbon levy under the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Code of Conduct) Regulations 2018 after it was amended in April.
The carbon levy is not collected by the government but by airlines to offset carbon emissions, Loke previously said.
“Our policy is different from Singapore's. We make it optional. It depends on airlines — either local or international airlines flying in and out of Kuala Lumpur — whether to impose that [the carbon levy],” he said.