Turbulence ahead for grounded airline

TO say the announcement was a shock is an understatement.

The post on MYAirline’s various social media pages came in the early hours of yesterday morning. The statement read as a lengthy apology, but in a nutshell, all one needed to do was read the headline: “MYAirline announces suspension of operations”.

The airline, a 2021 addition to the Malaysian aviation scene, said it had come to the extremely painful decision because of significant financial pressures that had made it necessary to suspend operations pending the shareholder restructuring and recapitalisation of the airline.

Its board of directors expressed deep regret over the situation, explaining that they had worked tirelessly to explore various partnership and capital-raising options to avert the suspension.

“Unfortunately, the constraints of time have left us with no alternative but to take this decision,” they said in the statement.

The above looks like a well- crafted apology, but just a day earlier, the carrier had posted a promotion for its Kota Baru route, flying from KLIA2 for only RM59.

And even more inexplicably, on Tuesday, it carried a statement to say that the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) had issued the airline with an Air Operator Certificate (AOC), allowing it to operate for two more years.

“This achievement reaffirms the airline’s unwavering dedication to maintaining the highest standards of safety, operational excellence and regulatory compliance within the aviation industry.

”This beggars belief. Because just two days after being issued with an AOC extension, the carrier suspends operations. How on earth could the CAAM had given MYAirline a clean bill of health barely 48 hours before its entire operation shuts down?

Alarm bells should have sounded when the carrier’s CEO Rayner Teo stepped down just a few days earlier, citing health reasons.

And with the resignation statement, the airline had the gall to publicly assure that it would continue to deliver exceptional services and uphold high standards of safety and reliability.

The only thing that it has delivered is confusion, anger and anxiety among the hundreds of passengers stranded at KLIA2 plus the thousands more who have purchased tickets and are now left in a quandary.

The “turbulence” on social media was predictable. On X (formerly known as Twitter), Puteri Balqiis hit out at the airline for not notifying its customers earlier.“I am already at KLIA and was waiting to check in my baggage at 7.30am. I waited from 4am until 5.40am but could not even see one staff member at the counters.

“All empty, all the passengers are waiting like fools,” she wrote, adding that the airline should issue immediate refunds as many customers have urgent business requiring them to travel.

Another post on X from Sharifah Shahidah read:

“This is really an inconvenience to passengers who have bought tickets. I’m one of the affected passengers and I need to know the full refund process. You don’t even bother to put up a contact number, only email.

It creates anxiety to (sic) people who wants (sic) to know more.”

The Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) has set up hotlines and other channels to help affected consumers.

But while it urged those who have made bookings with MYAirline to contact the airline’s dedicated complaints channel, the commission would be better served working closely with other Malaysian carriers who have scrambled to assist affected passengers.

Malaysia Airlines, Batik Air Malaysia and AirAsia have come to the rescue by aiding MYAirline passengers affected by the carrier’s fight suspension.

This includes relocation of air travellers to other flights, special fares for affected passengers and 50% discounts on selected fares.

MYAirline’s suspension is yet another fiasco in a litany of mess-ups that have plagued the Malaysian aviation industry.

Hard questions need to be asked on the issuance of airline licences in this country.

CAAM issues the AOC which involves the technical and safety aspect of the carrier, while Mavcom is the regulator that issues its Airline Service Licence, which is more concerned about the business and commercial capability of the carrier.

For a country that is one third the size of our neighbours’ Thailand and Indonesia, why do we have so many airlines operating in such a heavily-competitive market?

The obsession with enticing consumers with cheap fares appears to be MYAirline’s undoing.

On average, it costs RM25,000 for an airline with a 100-seat capacity plane to operate a route of an hour. Typically, it would then need each passenger to pay RM250 to cover the cost.

The economics do not make sense, even if you factor cross subsidy, when the airline charges RM59 for a flight.

The industry was already abuzz with talk that the airline had delayed paying salaries of its staff and defaulted on fees owed to Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd.

Whichever way you look at it, MYAirline was operating on an unsustainable business model.

The regulators seek to champion consumer rights, but in the end, as is frequently the case, the Malaysian consumers are on the losing end.

We never learn.