AirAsia boss Tony Fernandes today hit back at Tourism Malaysia chairperson Wee Choo Keong over an alleged outburst by the latter in attacking the budget air carrier.

This follows reports that Wee allegedly lost his temper and destroyed an AirAsia bunting put up at the Malaysian booth at the Beijing International Tourism Expo (BITE) last Friday.

"For many many years this man has tormented us. We have no idea why. Invited him many times to visit AirAsia Allstars.

"But this is over the top. AirAsia brings in the most Chinese tourists. You be the judge of what's right and what's wrong," Fernandes wrote on his Facebook.

The posting accompanied a snapshot of an article about Wee's alleged outburst.

'Wild allegations'

Wee, however, denied the outburst and the allegation that he had broken the buntings.

"These wild allegations are most vicious. It is most regrettable that certain quarters took great pains to make this a personal issue and revisit my stand on issues involving AirAsia,” Free Malaysia Today reported Wee as saying.

He said he "merely requested" the buntings by AirAsia and Genting to be sent sent to the back of the booth as they were overshadowing Tourism Malaysia's buntings.

The AirAsia and Genting buntings were also obstructing the area where the launch ceremony was supposed to take place, he reportedly said.

The Tourism Malaysia chief has been an ardent critic of AirAsia, and has accused it of owing RM50 million in airport taxes.

The budget airline last year sued Wee for defamation over a blog post making such allegations.