The aviation industry regulator decided to suspend the airline’s licence with immediate effect after deeming MYAirline’s response to a show cause letter issued last month unsatisfactory.

In a statement, Mavcom executive chairman Saripuddin Kasim said they received the airline’s written representation on Oct 27.

“Although the revocation of MYAirline’s ASL was highly considered, the potential implication of that could result in halting efforts in initiating refund payments to the affected passengers,” he said, referring to the air service licence.

He added that the suspension was made pursuant to Section 43(1) of the Malaysian Aviation Commission Act, which touches on the suspension or revocation of licence.

MYAirline suspended operations due to “severe financial challenges” on Oct 12.

It later said the suspension of operations was due to the lack of a back-up plan to resolve its faltering finances.

The airline added that its failure to inform passengers of the suspension stemmed from an “oversight”.

Saripuddin said MYAirline was still liable to refund some 117,000 passengers affected by its decision to shut down its operations, despite the ASL being suspended.

He said the airline owes a total of RM22 million in forward sales for flights scheduled from Oct 12 to March 31, 2024.

“Mavcom will continue to engage with Bank Negara Malaysia in finding possible avenues of recourse for affected passengers to obtain refunds for unfulfilled flight bookings.”

The decision to suspend MYAirline’s licence comes a day after a group of 15 employees filed a police report against the carrier over unpaid salaries.

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