KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 1 — The Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) has suspended the Air Service Licence (ASL) of MYAirline Sdn Bhd.

In a statement today, the commission said pursuant to section 43(1) of the Malaysian Aviation Commission Act 2015 [Act 771], the suspension would 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.

Mavcom said it had issued MYAirline a show-cause letter on October 13, 2023, ordering the airline to provide its written representation within 14 days.

It added that the show-cause letter, among others, highlighted MYAirline’s failure to comply with its ASL conditions and sudden suspension of operations on October 12, 2023.

Mavcom received MYAirline’s written representation on October 27 and after reviewing the written representation, the commission decided to suspend MYAirline’s ASL as the representations made by the airline were 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,” said Mavcom executive chairman Datuk Seri Saripuddin Kasim.

Mavcom said MYAirline is liable to refund its affected passengers as per the Malaysian Aviation Consumer Protection Code 2016 (MACPC), even though its ASL has been suspended.

It noted that 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 October 12, 2023 until March 31, 2024.

The commission said 58 per cent (RM12.8 million) of the forward sales are from travel agencies, 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,” added Mavcom.

It noted that Mavcom’s task force has been mandated to look into the affected passengers’ refunds and to provide recommendations on the way forward which 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, it added. — Bernama