Southeast Asia's biggest budget carrier AirAsia says it is "baffled" by a codesharing deal involving national carrier Malaysia Airlines, Singapore Airlines (SIA) and SIA subsidiary SilkAir.

AirAsia questioned how the deal would help the Malaysian government's ambitions of making Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) a major regional hub and supplant Singapore's Changi Airport.

"I am baffled by the tripartite codesharing," AirAsia's executive director Kamarudin Meranun told AFP in a recent interview.

Kamarudin said the deal would give Singapore Airlines and SilkAir frequent access to Malaysian domestic destinations without having to fly to KLIA.

"When we requested locating the low-cost terminal at Subang Airport, they (Malaysia Airlines) strongly opposed the reopening of the old airport, saying it will be against the plan to make KLIA a regional hub," he said.

"Now two carriers out of Changi will have access to Malaysia's domestic destinations without having to fly to KLIA. How is KLIA going to benefit?" Kamarudin said.

"Changi Airport will see an increase in passenger traffic."

The government has picked KLIA over Subang as the location for a new RM110 million low-cost carrier terminal.

AirAsia barred

Singapore Airlines and SilkAir will start codeshare flights with Malaysia Airlines between Singapore and Kuching in Sarawak, and between Singapore and Kota Kinabalu in Sabah, from March 27.

These flights, along with ones to Penang, will bypass KLIA.

AirAsia, meawhile, has been barred by Singapore from flying to Changi from Malaysia and Indonesia.

Azrul Azwar, senior economist with MIDF, said he also is puzzled at the codeshare deal and "there is some indication that Malaysia Airlines gets special treatment."

"Malaysia's ambition to become the premier hub in Asia will have to be shared with Singapore," Azrul said.

Nigel Foo, aviation analyst with AmSecurities, told AFP the deal was mainly intended to protect the lucrative Malaysia-Singapore route against competition from AirAsia.

"AirAsia's low-cost structure is a major threat to Singapore Airlines and Malaysia Airlines, he said."

'Unfair' to AirAsia

Foo said a return ticket from Malaysia to Singapore on Malaysia Airlines costs RM607 ringgit while AirAsia would be able to charge only half that if it was allowed to fly the route.

"So you could expect a lot of traffic going to AirAsia at the expense of Malaysia Airlines and Singapore Airlines," he said.

Foo said it was "unfair" not to allow AirAsia to fly to Singapore.

But he expects the budget carrier to get access to the route in the next two years as Association of Southeast Asian Nations countries adopt an open-skies policy by 2008.

Transport Minister Chan Kong Choy has said KLIA would not be affected by the codesharing since the deal involves existing flights.