It is absolutely disgusting the way MyAirlines announced its operation suspension on the same day all its flights were stopped, leaving hundreds of passengers waiting unknowingly a the airports about the situation. Many had taken private transports, left homes in the wee hour of the day, and made plans to visit families only to be disheartened by the airlines’ unacceptable management methods.
While the silence from the regulator MAVCOM and the Transport Minister on the whole fiasco is deafening, the public is furious! BusinessToday first reported on the resignation of MyAirlines CEO Rayner Teo Kheng Hock, a follow-up with the airline’s corporate communication team confirmed that it was due to health reasons, yet this was a day before the passengers were stranded at the airports. Even then the management had no sense of responsibility to inform all those who had bought tickets of the impending suspension to save the trouble of customers making the trip to the airport.
It’s rather surprising that there are no standard operation procedures issued by MAVCOM if such a scenario takes place perhaps there are but were not adhered to by the top management of MyAirlines, which then raises another question if due diligence is made before handing over commercial flight licenses to companies?
MYAirline said it has 700 employees and is led by Dato’ Abd Hamid Mohd Ali, former Chief Operations Officer of Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad, and Dato’ Seri Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, former Director General of CAAM, all airline professionals who have conducted themselves abhorrently.
It wouldn’t have been overnight that the airline could have gone into financial distress, an industry that is highly regulated must have some sort of obligation to report to the regulator on its financials every 6 months or annually if it is not public listed. Why isn’t there such a policy?
The unprecedented self-suspension of MyAirlines raises multiple questions about the code of conduct of airlines in Malaysia, the regulator, and the Transport Ministry’s role in ensuring passenger well-being, safety, and security overall.
After receiving a full Air Operation Certificate from CAAM in November 2022, MyAirline has gone bust in less than 1 year, it’s a great wonder how CAAM could have given the company operational certification if its financial standing for a minimum of 5 years were not included.
In any case, the public has the right to transparency under the MADANI concept of the whole fiasco and a thorough investigation of the top management’s conduct. Heads need to roll and those C-suites should be banned from the industry for life.
