Mavcom investigated over troubled airline’s licence

KUALA LUMPUR: Investigations are underway into the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) over its issuance of an air service licence (ASL) to MYAirline last year, says Anthony Loke.

The Transport Minister said the investigations would uncover how the now-infamous airline gained approval for an ASL despite their co-founder’s controversial history owing to many financial discrepancies.

“The airline gained its ASL from Mavcom in 2022 (on Nov 15) before I came into office.

“The investigation now will determine whether due diligence was carried out by Mavcom during the approval process.

“This is something that Mavcom, as the economic aviation regulatory body, must answer to and those responsible must be held accountable,” he said after attending the Emirates and Batik Air Codeshare Partnership Launch here yesterday.

Loke said his ministry was working on merging Mavcom with the technical regulatory body Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) into a single body by next year.

“I have made my position clear since 2019 on the need to merge them into a single regulatory body, and we plan to propose the Bill by the first Parliament session next year.

In 2019, Loke said that the merging of the two aviation regulatory bodies would empower CAAM financially as the country’s main aviation regulator and follow the best practices of other modern countries.

Meanwhile, in a statement a Mavcom spokesman said that the commission will fully cooperate with an investigation by the minsitry with regards to the granting of the ASL to MYAirlines