SEPANG: The Ministry of Transport (MoT) will seek the cooperation of other airlines to maintain or increase their flight frequencies.
This followed an announcement by the Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG) to reduce the number of flights and routes between now and December 2024.
Transport Minister Anthony Loke said the action by MAG was necessary for the company to address its technical issues.
“It is a drastic measure y MAG. It is not something they want to do, but due to numerous technical issues, they had to take this step to reduce flights in the coming months so they can ensure the aircraft are sent for maintenance and other necessary procedures.
“We also expect the arrival of new aircraft within the next one or two months.
“So this (reduction of the flight network) is only a temporary measure, it is not permanent,“ he told the media after opening Capsule Transit MAX, here today.
Loke said the public can still get flight tickets from other airlines such as AirAsia, Batik Air.
Previously, MAG Group managing director Datuk Captain Izham Ismail was reported as saying that MAG is planning to reduce its flights and routes between now and December 2024 due to recent disruptions in their services, which affected Malaysia Airlines, Firefly, and Amal services during the week of August 19, 2024.
The measures are being taken to implement corrective measures where needed regarding the incident.
He acknowledged that MAG had experienced attrition of its skilled workforce as new maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) industry competitors, both local and international, entered local markets.
“To address this, we are collaborating with our partners to augment our manpower and increase our skilled engineering workforce while also improving our remuneration packages to sustain a strong talent pipeline for MAG,“ he said.
Aware of the frustration among MAG’s customers, Izham assured that MAG would provide affected customers with the necessary compensation which included flight reallocations and full refunds without any penalty charges.