Malaysia airport departure tax kicks in next month
Despite protestations from local airlines and trade group IATA, Malaysia will impose a departure tax from September 1.
The cost will vary depending on class of service and destination, up to a free of RM150.
The federal government passed the ministerial order for the levy which will be collected on departure from the country for all eligible travellers.
Exemptions are made for flight crew, transit passengers that do not exceed 12 hours, and children under two years old.
The departure levy starts at RM8 for economy fliers travelling within the ASEA bloc and RM50 for business or premium classes.
For destinations beyond Southeast Asia, the fee is RM20 and RM150 for other classes of service.
The ASEAN bloc consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
The new departure levy order calls for fines of up to RM1 million for passengers or third parties who wilfully try to avoid paying the fee.
Since it was first mooted airlines have voiced strong opposition.
Airline group IATA claims the fee will cause a reduction of about 835,000 international travellers a year, costing airlines about US$419 million.
This will ultimately lead to more than 5,000 job losses, IATA says.
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