According to sources, representatives of Oriental Sky Sdn Bhd, its lawyers and a pilot moved to secure the Cessna 208EX with registration number 9M-ORS on Wednesday despite the SAS management ordering hangar staff to stop them.
Oriental Sky has a leasing contract allowing SAS to operate and maintain the amphibian aircraft but was forced to take the plane back due to intermittent defects with its fuel quantity indication system.
SAS has not been able to rectify the issue since its only licensed aircraft engineer (LAE) with a Cessna 208 model rating left the company a few months ago without being replaced.
One source said Oriental Sky told SAS it wanted the aircraft back following the aviation authorities’ refusal to renew the latter’s air service permit (ASP) and the suspension of its air operations certificate (AOC).
The aircraft’s owner said these licences were pivotal to their operations and maintenance contracts, the source added.
“The aircraft has been flown to Seletar Airport in Singapore. It needs to be repaired under warranty in Textron Singapore.
“However, the aircraft is under the Malaysian registry, so it needs a Malaysian LAE with the rating to certify the completion of the work. Oriental Sky is in the process of looking for one,” the source said.
He added that SAS merely gave excuses and never acknowledged that the reason for its delay in carrying out the rectification was due to the lack of a certifier.
Meanwhile, the pilot who used to fly the aircraft for SAS also quit on Tuesday, citing constructive dismissal due to unpaid salary, the source said.
“He now works for Oriental Sky,” he added.
The Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) refused to renew SAS’s ASP when it expired on Feb 29 after the company failed to pay staff salaries over the past year. It also failed to remit EPF and income tax deductions running into millions of ringgit.
Following this, the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) suspended SAS’s AOC for three months beginning March 12. The suspension was extended to July 31 after the company failed to rectify its shortcomings.
As a result, SAS cannot carry out any form of passenger service.
Legal tussle adds to SAS’s troubles
The troubled company is also embroiled in a tussle with Vector Aero Sdn Bhd, after SAS refused to hand over the documents for the Diamond DA-42NG, despite the termination of their aircraft maintenance order last month.
Under international aviation rules, no aircraft can fly without the requisite documents as they contain details of its parts with up-to-date servicing records.
In a letter of demand sighted by FMT, Vector Aero accused SAS of intentionally delaying the handover of documents by issuing an invoice for RM125,000, which it said was “overbilling”.
“This failure to deliver the documents, which you claimed to be due to our purported failure to pay the sum of RM125,000, is totally incomprehensible given that we have diligently paid in full every single invoice issued.
“The amount, which is based on invoices accompanied by a statement of account issued 35 days after the termination notice, is totally unjustifiable.
“The sums claimed for supposedly doing engine ground runs (EGR) are unsubstantiated as no such instructions were given, as the aircraft was operated by us on a regular basis thus removing the need to do EGRs,” the letter said.
The company also questioned SAS’s hangarage charges, saying it was not billed on a monthly basis with the rest of the charges, as stipulated in the agreement they signed three years ago.
Instead, it was only being billed now after the agreement had lapsed, it said.
Vector Aero also said attempts by its management and solicitors to meet the SAS management have been futile.
FMT has reached out to SAS for comment.