AirAsia denies wrongdoing in dealings with Rolls-Royce

PETALING JAYA: AirAsia Bhd and AirAsia X Bhd yesterday separately denied wrongdoing in dealings with Rolls-Royce, following the UK Serious Fraud Office’s charge that Rolls-Royce had given a USS$3.2 million (RM14 million) discount for the maintenance of a private jet in lieu of business with the group.
The two airlines maintained they had followed due approval process for the transactions related to the private jet owned by Caterhamjet Global Ltd (CJG), used to transport the group chief executives of AirAsia and AirAsia X.
AirAsia said prior to 2015, the use of the corporate jet was contracted through AirAsia Asean Ltd, and the costs incurred for the use and upkeep of the aircraft were paid by associate companies such as Thai AirAsia and Indonesia AirAsia, and not AirAsia.
From 2015, however, AirAsia was required to make an annual contribution of US$3 million for the use of the corporate jet, which covers the cost of fuel, aircraft engineering and maintenance, route charges, landing fees, parking charges, ground handling charges and security and immigration costs. In return, CJG agreed to provide a minimum of 75 flight hours per month to AirAsia executives.
In June 21, 2016, AirAsia entered into a sale and purchase agreement to acquire the corporate jet from CJG. The transaction is yet to be completed