KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 27 — AirAsia will not give up on securing a licence to operate in Singapore, despite having been rejected three times, said Capital A chief executive officer, Tan Sri Tony Fernandes.

"Don’t block me in Singapore,” he said.

"Three times we had applied for an airline licence, three times we were rejected. We have airlines in Cambodia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia.

"We could get other Asean countries but Singapore has blocked us all the time because they protect their airlines,” he said after the grand opening of 14-line Asia Digital Engineering’s maintenance, repair and overhaul hangar at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) today.

Commenting on his post on Linkedln about SIA Engineering Company (SIAEC), he said that he has no problem with the company coming to Malaysia.

SIAEC had recently signed a 15-year agreement with Khazanah Nasional’s subsidiary company, Impeccable Vintage Properties, to lease two hangars at Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport in Subang.

"The point is SIAEC is fine here, we support it... it’s good for the country, good for investments and good for employees who want to leave.

"If they have a better job they should go. This is a free market.

"My problem is why doesn’t Singapore give me a licence? That’s my problem,” he said. — Bernama