Deputy transport minister Hasbi Habibollah said 55,024 flights were delayed for less than two hours, while 5,990 experienced delays exceeding two hours.

He also said 18%, or 57,276 flights, out of 315,388 scheduled flights were cancelled during the period, as opposed to 20%, or 90,696 flights, out of a total of 444,234 scheduled flights in 2023.

Hasbi was responding to questions from Shafizan Haji Peli (GPS-Batang Lupar), Chiew Choon Man (PH-Miri) and Bung Moktar Radin (BN-Kinabatangan) about flight disruptions and domestic travel between Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah and Sarawak.

He attributed the delays to various factors, including airline operations (aircraft and crew rotations), exceptional circumstances, and technical issues.

“Causes of flight cancellations include commercial reasons such as low loads, operational issues like crew shortages, late aircraft arrivals, aircraft rotation, exceptional circumstances like weather and air traffic control, and technical issues such as Aircraft on Ground,” he said.

Hasbi also revealed a decrease in the number of Return to Chock incidents, where planes are required to return to their parking spots on the runway, with 181 this year, compared with 248 in 2023.

For Air Turnbacks (ATB), he said the figures rose from 13 in 2023 to 18 in 2024.

On a separate matter, Hasbi acknowledged the insufficiency of the current fleet of 258 aircraft, which includes 104 operated by Malaysia Aviation Group, 107 by AirAsia, and 47 by Batik Air.

“When issues like maintenance arise, it undoubtedly affects operations,” he said.

“Our airlines are still strategising to expand the fleets, including considering options beyond Boeing and Airbus to increase capacity.”