KUALA LUMPUR: The lack of connectivity will hamper the growth of the aviation industry in the long term, according to Malaysia Aviation Commission (Mavcom) executive chairman Dr Nungsari Radhi. This lack of connectivity could be a huge hindrance to airline and tourism growth.
“Local airlines hardly fly more than four hours, there are only one long distance flight to Europe, London, and some flights to Australia.
“Our airports are only busy during the morning and evening hours and other hours the airports are hardly busy because there are few short flights at that hours and this is down to the lack of connectivity,“ Nungsari told the media after a press briefing on Mavcom’s aviation masterplan recommendations to the government for the local aviation industry.
He said airports should operate till 3am or even 4am or 5am when flights from other areas arrive but this is not the case here.
“This has an impact on expansion and getting more people to visit the country.“
He said it seems like there is overcapacity at certain hours of the day then it quiets down again.
Nungsari also warned the downgrade by the Federal Aviation Authority could have a major impact if other regulators were to follow suit.
He cited the example of Thailand where Japan, China and South Korea banned Thai carriers after their aviation authority was downgraded by FAA.
If this was to happen here it could cost local aviation industry about RM4 billion.
He said Malaysias is a member of the International Civil Aviation Organisation and how can a Category 2 nation advise a Category one nation.
Mavcom chief operating officer Azmir Zain said the number of foreign passengers arriving at Malaysian airports is set to drop because of the coronavirus.
He said they had predicted the growth of 5% to 6% due to the Visit Malaysia year promotion.
“We have adjusted our estimates to 4.6% to 5.7% and this will also have an effect on local airlines and airport revenues.
“The disruption in airline services between Malaysia and China has had an affect on Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) and Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA),“ Azmir said.
He said to mitigate the drop from China, local airlines will need to redeploy their aircraft to get more passengers and revenue.
Malindo Air and Air Asia had suspended their flights to China due to the outbreak of the coronavirus.
