AVIATION safety has once again come into focus after a new airline called Suasa Airlines Sdn Bhd was reportedly caught operating a commercial flight from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang to Langkawi on July 22 — without a licence.
Last Monday, Suasa Airlines became the second airline to get into trouble with the authorities in two months. Last month, another airline start-up, Rayani Air Sdn Bhd, had its air service licence (ASL) revoked by the newly set up Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) after it was found to be lacking in financial and management capacity to continue.
As for Suasa Airlines, it had a provisional air service permit (ASP) and an air operator’s certificate (AOC) from the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) but these two licences do not qualify the company to operate commercial flights with paying customers.
“It’s obvious they shouldn’t have flown. They didn’t have a full ASP [issued by Mavcom] to operate commercial flights,” a source familiar with the situation tells The Edge.
It is understood that Suasa Airlines had earlier filed an application with Mavcom to obtain a full ASP but after the latest incident, the odds are stacked against it.
A search on the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) website reveals that 80% of Suasa Airlines’ shares are owned by its CEO Captain Sheikh Salleh Sheikh Abod. The remaining 20% is held by Datuk Hisham Abd Majid, who is former Seputeh Umno division chief and chairman of Y2G-Ulul Albab Center of Excellence.
The 63-year-old Sheikh Salleh is also the former CEO of air cargo operator Neptune Air Sdn Bhd. According to SSM, Sheikh Salleh is also a shareholder of Neptune Air together with Neptune Capital Inc and Nurul A’In Abu Bakar.
No financial records of Suasa Airlines are publicly available, although it describes itself as an “air transport freighter over regular routes and on regular schedules” in the SSM filing.
According to Mavcom, Suasa Airlines broke the law by disregarding the commission’s guidelines on operating a commercial flight without a full ASP, which contravenes Section 36 of the Malaysian Aviation Commission Act 2015 (Act 771). Anyone found guilty of the offence is liable to a fine of up to RM1 million.
“In order for an entity to operate a commercial airline business, it is required to hold [both] a [full] ASP and an AOC,” says Mavcom in a July 25 statement.
An AOC certifies that an airline complies with relevant technical competence and safety requirements and is granted by the DCA, an agency under the Ministry of Transport.
An ASP allows a company to operate charter flights while an ASL allows the licence holder to conduct scheduled passenger services like those of Malaysia Airlines Bhd and AirAsia Bhd. The issuance of both these licences has come under the purview of Mavcom since it started operations on March 1. The commission is an independent economic regulatory body created under the Act 771 and is also responsible for airport charges, route allocation, dispute resolution and consumer protection, among others.
According to sources, Mavcom is in the midst of gathering more information from the DCA and Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd on whether the flight operated by Suasa Airlines on July 22 was a “demonstration flight” as claimed by the latter, although it had paying customers on board.
Suasa Airlines is also in trouble with the aviation authorities for using the brand name “Monspace” on its aircraft livery.
An SSM filing lists Datuk Seri Jessy Lai Chai Suang, Chai Ling Mooi and Ritawati Jap as the major shareholders of Mon Space (M) Sdn Bhd. Lai was previously embroiled in the controversial direct-selling firm CDTUP International Sdn Bhd, whose multilevel marketing scheme, called YSLM Millionaire Scheme, was established by self-proclaimed Chinese millionaire Zhang Jian.
Last week, Mavcom said it had lodged a police report against Monspace Sky Airlines for misleading the public by marketing itself as an airline.
Checks on Monspace Sky Airlines’ website at www.monskyways.com showed a message saying that it was currently under maintenance and that it would be back soon. It also said “Monspace Sky Airlines is operated by Suasa Air”.
With the country having gone through the twin tragedies of Flights MH370 and MH17 in 2014, the latest incident has brought into question the DCA’s licensing practice — whether it had green-lighted the licences of Rayani Air and Suasa Airlines in haste. The licences were approved by the DCA in December 2015, before Mavcom was set up.
The DCA’s director-general, Datuk Seri Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, has come out to say that Suasa Airlines received its provisional ASP on
Dec 15, 2015, and was issued an AOC on July 22, the same day the airline flew its maiden flight from KLIA to Langkawi.
As at press time, Azharuddin had not responded to calls or text messages from The Edge.
When contacted, Lai tells The Edge that all enquiries will be answered in Suasa Airlines’ formal statement “probably in the next few days”.
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