Malaysia: Up to US$362m a year from Malaysian GDP could be lost by charging airline passengers: aviation bodies

Malaysia stands to lose as much as US$362m annually from its gross domestic product (GDP), if it proceeds with its plan to impose a new charge on airline passengers, according to two aviation bodies. The IATA and Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) have expressed strong concern over Malaysia’s plan to introduce its Advance Passenger Screening System (APSS). Malaysia’s APPS is pursuant to the country’s Advance Passenger Information (API) management system. The APSS is a new border management programme and at present, some 65 countries worldwide have already introduced such programmes. These will become mandatory in 2018, under a new ICAO standard. Malaysia is planning to recover its costs for the API programme through a new charge on passengers. In a position paper issued today, IATA and AAPA said they were strongly concerned by the proposed charge that would be levied on passengers flying into and out of Malaysia. “A large majority of the States with API programs in place do not levy such charges and instead, have agreed to fund this through the general national budget,” both aviation bodies said. Story includes reasons.<br/>