The Board of Airline Representatives Malaysia (BAR-Malaysia) said such conditions will severely impact airline operations and impose unnecessary waiting time on crew members.

“These additional requirements are regressive,” its president Suresh Singam told FMT.

He said flight operations to Malaysia might be revised or reduced and Kuala Lumpur International Airport might become an unfeasible stopover point, thus affecting Malaysian airports as well.

Suresh said the requirement also disregards the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s recommended guidelines, which exempt crew members from the Covid-19 testing required of travellers.

The US, Britain, Australia and Singapore do not require testing upon arrival for crew members, he said.

Suresh said this in response to a report by The Edge which said some foreign airlines were deferring plans to reinstate their flights to Malaysia, following a requirement for local and foreign aircrew to undergo fever screening and Covid-19 Rapid Antigen (RTK-Ag) tests.

According to the report, if a crew member tests negative, they will need to undergo a seven-day self-quarantine in the country or until the next scheduled flight.

Currently, aircrew are not required to take the RTK-Ag tests upon arrival.

The Edge also reported that foreign aircrew, including pilots, cabin crew and engineers, will need to take Covid-19 tests every time they arrive in Malaysia, which may take up to two to three hours.

The latest guidelines by the health ministry are said to come into effect today.

Suresh said the quarantine requirement – which according to the new guidelines will also apply to those who test negative – will subject the crew “to a perpetual loop of quarantine at both ends” and would have a deleterious effect on their mental well-being.

Most of the local crew were fully vaccinated, he said.

He called for the guidelines to be withdrawn and for arriving aircrew to be exempt from the RTK-Ag test to allow them to comply with mandated crew rest times.