MYAirline suspends operations from Oct 12, Mavcom to assist ticketholders

KUALA LUMPUR: Low-cost carrier MYAirline has announced it will suspend its operations from Oct 12, 2023, until further notice due to "significant financial pressures" pending a shareholder restructuring and recapitalisation of the airline.

"We have worked tirelessly to explore various partnership and capital raising options to prevent this suspension.

"Unfortunately, the constraints of time have left us with no alternative but to take this decision," said MYAirline's board of directors in a statement.

It added that the board, shareholders and MYAirline will be working tirelessly to resume operations as quickly as possible but are unable to commit to any timeline.

"We reiterate our sincerest apologies for any difficulty and inconvenience arising from this suspension and will do our utmost to provide any updates which become available," it added.

Subsequent to the announcement, the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) said in a separate statement it has set up dedicated hotline and channels to assist customers affected by the suspension of MyAirline's operations.

The aviation commission said MYAirline is still liable to refund consumers who have purchased tickets from the airline but are unable to travel.

It said it has also instructed MYAirline to immediately manage affected consumers which include amongst others, notifying them of the suspension, and publishing the said notification in the airline’s available communication channels.

MYAirline has also been instructed by the Commission to immediately discontinue the sale and booking of flights from all booking platforms until further notice.

"The commission is in close communication with MYAirline in addressing this issue.

"Meanwhile, the commission is currently investigating the airline based on internal reviews and complaints received regarding the airline’s unpaid statutory payments to its employees, amongst others," it said.

Mavcom said it would provide further developments with regards to MYAirline's operations in due course.

It urged affected consumers who have made bookings with MYAirline for flights on Oct 12, 2023, onwards, to contact the airline’s dedicated complaint channel for questions and assistance with regards to their booking: [e-mail].

Mavcom’s dedicated channels are also in place to assist all affected consumers:

• Consumer hotline: [phone] (Within Malaysia) or [phone] (Outside Malaysia)
• E-mail at [e-mail]
• FlySmart complaint webform: https://flysmart.my/make-a-complaint/
• FlySmart mobile application that is available for download from the Google Play store and Apple App store for Android and iOS users respectively.