Malaysia’s aviation-safety downgrade makes Asia the region with the most markets where airlines are restricted from US airspace.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Monday cut Malaysia to a Category 2 nation, banning the country’s carriers from setting up new flights to anywhere between New York and San Francisco.
It cited deficiencies by the nation’s civil aviation authority in areas ranging from technical expertise to record keeping.
Malaysia is the third Asian country branded with such a stigma — the others being Bangladesh and Thailand — underscoring the challenges regulators face in keeping up with fast-growing demand for flying.
Costa Rica, Curacao and Ghana are the only other markets worldwide designated as Category 2.
“The moment they hear Malaysia is Category 2 questionable safety, you have a lot of people start to wonder ‘oh, I don’t want to fly with Malaysian carriers,’” Maybank Investment Bank Bhd analyst Mohshin Aziz said.
The FAA assessment is based on International Civil Aviation Organization safety standards and focuses on the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia, not individual airlines.
It has been used to ban flights from India, Vietnam and Indonesia — although those markets have been upgraded to Category 1 in the past few years.
Malaysia now cannot open new routes to the US or code-share with US carriers.
It also means Malaysian aircraft will be more closely monitored at US airports, though only AirAsia X flies there — to Honolulu via Osaka.
The airline did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The FAA’s designation could have far-reaching implications for a country that suffered through the 2014 disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 and the downing of another flight over Ukraine.
Mohshin said it could turn public perception of Malaysian carriers negative, hurt the maintenance business, undermine the ability of local pilots and engineers from getting hired overseas, and drive up insurance premiums and leasing rates.
That point was echoed by Gerry Soejatman, a Jakarta-based aviation analyst, who also said the FAA’s decision could impact business travel as companies might restrict staff from flying Category 2 carriers.
In response to the downgrade, the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia said it “takes the FAA’s assessment constructively and has moved to make serious changes in its structure and operations.”
At an event in Jakarta yesterday, Malaysian Deputy Minister of Finance Amiruddin Hamzah said that the downgrade would be looked into, but it was unlikely to affect tourism, including increasing numbers of people traveling to Malaysia for medical treatment.
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