Its chairman Ahmad Ridzwan Mohd Salleh said the “ambiguous” findings were across the board, including legislation, training and obligations.
According to the Reuters report, Malaysia’s air safety rating had been downgraded by the US authority, restricting the country’s airlines from adding flights to the United States.
The new rating means Malaysian carriers cannot start new services and are restricted to current levels of any existing service to the United States, and would be subject to additional inspections at US airports.
The only service to the US is currently operated by AirAsia X.
CAAM said, however, the downgrade is not an assessment of Malaysian airlines, airports or air traffic services but only refers to the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia’s role as regulator.
Ahmad Ridzwan said the FAA’s review of CAAM was carried out in April and that it took “immediate and considerable” steps to rectify the findings.
By July, he said, the majority of the findings were closed.
“However, in our view, a substantial number of findings were either ambiguous or undetermined,” he said at a press conference, adding that they would work with the FAA to address the concerns.
CAAM member Afzal Abdul Rahim said they viewed the downgrade as serious, saying it reflected their “shortcomings and failures”.
But he also noted that out of the 300 areas audited, only 33 remained outstanding, of which 11 were ambiguous.
Afzal also said this is the first time Malaysia had been downgraded after it achieved the Category 1 in 2003.
“We are confident of addressing the issues in 12 months and about obtaining Category 1,” he said, adding that CAAM wanted for the FAA to visit them as soon “as they were ready”.
Asked if they were going to submit proposals to Parliament to amend legislation that had contributed to their downgrade, Afzal said: “Oh boy, we have a list.”
Meanwhile, Economic Affairs Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali said the downgrading may not have major economic consequences.
The real issue was public perception of Malaysian-owned carriers, he told reporters at the Parliament lobby.
“The concern expressed by the the US Federal Aviation Administration is against the regulator, not the airlines. But now the perception is as though it will have a major impact on MAS or any airline coming out of Malaysia.
“We need to correct the perception. It is the regulator that needs to address the issues,” he said.
Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had said that the federal government would deal with any problem that might arise due to the safety downgrading.
“If there is anything wrong with our civil aviation authority, we will take measures to correct the situation so that the whole world will respect Malaysian aviation,” he said.