KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 2 — The Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) has closed 29 of 33 audit findings of the International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA), which was raised by the United States' Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 2019, Transport Minister Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong said.

Answering in Parliament today, Wee said after CAAM's safety rating was downgraded from Category 1 to Category 2 by the FAA in November 2019, the Ministry of Transport's (MoT) CAAM had taken corrective measures on all 33 findings.

"At the same time, CAAM had taken action to strengthen aspects of security including critical elements that became the key questions in the IASA FAA audit. Further to that, the FAA held an auditing session again on CAAM from December 6 to December 10, 2021 and a written report from the re-auditing was submitted to Malaysia on May 10, 2022 for corrective action.

"Based on the report, CAAM had taken action to close 29 IASA audit findings raised by the FAA. Next, on July 12 to July 14, 2022, the FAA held further discussions with CAAM regarding corrective actions that have been taken by the CAAM on the said findings," he added.

Wee said that based on the discussion, the FAA had verbally informed that all 26 of the 29 findings obtained in the auditing session in December 2021 have been successfully closed, and that the 26 findings were related to the technical aspects of the CAAM.

"However, there are still three more findings that still cannot be closed. Of the three findings, two findings are related to legal aspects and one is related to technical and training aspects involving the preparation of a syllabus for CAAM inspectors," he added.

Wee added that the corrective actions to close the three findings were presented to the FAA on July 25, 2022, and the FAA will make a decision regarding the re-rating that is expected to be announced this month.

He said that the MoT, together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and CAAM, have also drafted strategies to gauge support to retain Malaysia's member seat in the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

"Among the strategies that have been and will be implemented are to attend conferences and hold bilateral meetings with regional groups such as the African Civil Aviation Commission, Latin America Civil Aviation Commission, Arab Civil Aviation Organisation) and the European Civil Aviation Conference. In addition, the MoT through the CAAM also offers training for human capital development for the international civil aviation industry under the Technical Cooperation Program Malaysia to all ICAO contracting countries," he said.

Wee was responding to a question by Kuala Krai MP, Abdul Latiff bin Abdul Rahman, who had asked to state the status and actions taken by the MoT, following the downgrading of the safety rating of the CAAM from Category 1 to Category 2 by the FAA in November 2019, and the preparatory actions by the country to retain the membership as a council member in the ICAO.

In his additional question, Abdul Latiff also asked about the effects of the downgrade on the nation's aviation industry.

In his reply, Wee said that countries which have had their safety ratings downgraded to Category 2, would not be allowed any new flying permits to prepare routes to the US, except existing ones.

He said that the FAA would also not allow any new flying permits from any airlines operating in Malaysia, to have codeshare agreements with the US, to prepare flights to the country, except existing ones

"Thirdly, the FAA won't allow new permits to have any codeshare agreement with any airlines apart from US aviation companies, to fly to the US," Wee added.

"Of the three findings we gave the FAA, we are committed that from the legal amendment aspect, we will bring it to the Dewan Rakyat early next year. Meanwhile, we have delegated the authority to the chief executive of the CAAM to have them approve anything with regards to the technical licensing aspect," he added.