AirAsia X (D7, Kuala Lumpur International) and AirAsia (AK, Kuala Lumpur International) have filed a Writ of Summons at the Kuala Lumpur High Court against Malaysia Airports (Sepang) Berhad (MASSB), the operator of Kuala Lumpur International airport, for the sum of MYR479.8 million ringgits (USD114.5 million).

The two LCCs said in a stock market filing that the writ concerns "loss and damage caused by negligence on the part of MASSB, its servants and/or agents in the management, operation, maintenance and/or provision of airport services and facilities at [low-cost terminal] klia2".

"We did not want to do this but Malaysia Airports and Mavcom [Malaysian Aviation Commission] have forced our hand. Despite our best efforts to settle this matter amicably and through the right channels, we feel compelled to file this claim as we were left with no other recourse to protect our interests," Chief Executives Riad Asmat and Benyamin Ismail said in a joint communique.

The two carriers announced their intention to sue MASSB in early 2019, responding to a writ filed by the airport operator seeking MYR36.1 million (USD8.6 million) in total in overdue passenger charges from the airlines. The carriers said at that time they will not pay the debt as they see it as unjustified and unreasonable. AirAsia Group carriers ceased to collect passenger fees from its customers departing on international routes from Kuala Lumpur as of July 1, 2018, once Malaysia Airports raised the fee at the low-cost terminal KLIA2 to MYR73 ringgits (USD17.5), matching the level at the full-service KLIA1 terminal.

Since the escalation of the dispute in late 2018 and early 2019, AirAsia Group has been trying to force Mavcom, Malaysia's aviation oversight body, to mediate the conflict. These attempts have been unsuccessful and eventually terminated by the court's ruling siding with Mavcom.

In September 2019, AirAsia Group paid RM41.55 million (USD9.9 million) in overdue passenger charges to Malaysia Airports, obeying a ruling by the Kuala Lumpur High Court from July 18 that sided with the airport operator.

MASSB is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Malaysian Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB), the stock-market-listed operator of most of the Malaysian airports and Istanbul Sabiha Gökcen. Malaysian sovereign fund Khazanah Nasional holds a 33.2% stake in MAHB.