KUCHING, Nov 2: The Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) has announced it would suspend MYAirline Sdn Bhd’s (MYAirline) Air Service Licence (ASL) with immediate effect.
The Commission’s executive chairman, Datuk Seri Saripuddin Kasim, said in a press release yesterday (Nov 1) that the decision came after MYAirline’s written representation on Oct 27, following a show cause letter issued to the troubled airline by Mavcom on Oct 13.
“After reviewing the written representation, Mavcom decided to suspend MYAirline’s ASL as the representations made by the airline are not satisfactory to the show cause letter.
“Although the revocation of MYAirline’s ASL was highly considered, the potential implication of that could result in halting efforts in initiating refund payments to the affected passengers.
“As the economic and commercial regulator of the Malaysian civil aviation industry, the Commission made this decision with the view to safeguard the interests of passengers and employees affected by MYAirline’s suspension of operations, as well as taking into consideration the challenges faced by the aviation industry post-Covid-19 pandemic,” he explained.
According to Saripuddin, even though MYAirline’s ASL has been suspended, as per the Malaysian Aviation Consumer Protection Code 2016 (MACPC), MYAirline is required to reimburse its affected passengers.
“A total of over 117,000 estimated passengers are affected by MYAirline’s suspension of operations, with a total value of over RM22 million in forward sales for scheduled flights from Oct 12, 2023 until Mar 31, 2024.
“Majority of the forward sales are from travel agencies by 58 per cent (RM12.8 million), followed by 41.8 per cent (RM9.2 million) from payments made by credit or debit cards.
“Mavcom will continue to engage with Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) in finding possible avenues of recourse for affected passengers to obtain refunds for unfulfilled flight bookings.”
He continued stating: “Mavcom’s Task Force has been mandated to look into the affected passengers’ refunds and to provide recommendations on the way forward. This may potentially include refining or expanding the mechanism for aviation consumer protection.
“In the meantime, Mavcom will continue to engage with BNM in finding possible avenues for affected passengers to get their money back.” — DayakDaily
