SINGAPORE, Nov 16 — AirAsia Bhd has urged the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) to come up with airport-specific calculation of passenger service charges (PSCs) sooner than the industry standard of three to four years.

Group Chief Executive Officer, Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, said the calculation process, which would reflect the available facilities at individual airports, could be done in six months.

"I applaud Mavcom for doing it and it is about time. Malaysia will be the first county in Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) to do this properly and I urge them to do it quicker,” he told reporters after unveiling the airline’s digitalisation plan at the Changi Airport T4 today.

In August, Mavcom Chief Operating Officer, Azmir Zain, was reported as saying the commission was looking to revamp the calculation of PSCs at local airports, in line with international practices.

He was also quoted saying that European countries took between three and four years to implement the mechanism and that Mavcom was looking at a similar timeline.

Meanwhile, during his presentation, Fernandes highlighted that his vision was to eliminate the usage of cash in AirAsia flights with the introduction of its e-wallet service, BigPay.

The service, expected to launched within the next two to three months, would allow travellers to connect up to 10 debit or credit cards to make transactions across Asean.

It would have all 10 Asean currencies, while also offering cheaper foreign exchange rates compared with banks. — Bernama