At a press conference here today, MYAirline’s interim accountable executive Azharuddin Rahman said he understood the frustration experienced by the airline’s passengers, many of whom only found out about the suspension when they were already at airports waiting for their flights.
“This situation arose due to the lack of a contingency plan, compounded by the last-minute withdrawal of a potential investor.”
Last week, the low-cost carrier said it reached the “extremely painful decision” to suspend operations immediately because of significant financial pressures, adding that it was also unable to commit to any timeframe as to when it could resume operations.
Azharuddin added that while the airline had issued the suspension notice at 5.30am on Thursday and immediately cancelled the morning wave of flights, some passengers on later flights were already at the airport.
“This was an oversight on our part,” he admitted.
“We were let down by the eleventh-hour pull-out of a potential investor on Oct 11 (Wednesday). At about 4.30pm on the day, they informed us that there was ‘no deal’ and that left us in the lurch.”
After news of the suspension broke, transport minister Loke Siew Fook criticised MYAirline for its hasty decision affecting 125,000 MYAirline passengers who had already purchased RM20 million worth of tickets until March 2024.
Calling the airline’s actions “irresponsible” and “unacceptable”, Loke said the “abrupt” decision caught the transport ministry and the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) by surprise as they were not given any prior notice.
Addressing the matter, Azharuddin acknowledged MYAirline’s “communication shortcomings” with both the Mavcom and the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM), who earlier today suspended MYAirline’s air operator certificate (AOC) effective immediately for a period of 90 days, pending further investigations.
Azharuddin said that MYAirline had “failed to engage with authorities and passengers in a timely manner before deciding to temporarily suspend our operations”.
Touching on potential investors, Azharuddin said MYAirline is actively exploring strategic partnerships and had received several proposals.
“Most of the investors are now in final negotiations, so it’s a matter of time. Once we receive the funding, the refund process will start,” he said, adding that he was optimistic the issue will be resolved by the end of the year.
According to Azharuddin, the amount of refunds owed stood at RM22 million involving 135,000 passengers, while the salaries for more than 900 employees were also outstanding, pending the injection of funds from a new investor.
He said that discussions with the lessors are also ongoing to retain their aircrafts.
He urged all affected passengers to contact the airline at [email protected] to initiate the refund process.
The airline has also established a hotline at 03-8966 2522 – operational from 7am to 6pm daily – to facilitate refunds and provide assistance as needed.
Formerly known as Z9 Elite Sdn Bhd, MYAirline was established in January 2021 and took to the skies for the first time on Dec 1, 2022, with flights from Kuala Lumpur to Langkawi, Kuching and Kota Kinabalu.
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