In the interest of national security and safety of air passenegrs, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has downgraded the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia’s (CAAM’s) air safety rating following a damning assessment.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) cut Malaysia to a Category 2 nation on Monday (18th Nov), meaning the country’s carriers are now prohibeted from setting up new flights between the cities of New York and San Francisco. The move came in light of a damming assessment, where the FAA cited deficiencies by the nation’s civil aviation authority in areas ranging from technical expertise to record keeping.
Malaysia is the third Asian country now branded with such a reputation tarnish – the others being Bangladesh and Thailand – highlighting the issues regulators experience with the growing development of the aviation industry in the region; The downgrading now makes Asia the region with the most markets where airlines are restricted from US airspace.
Speaking out about the move, analyst at Maybank Investment Bank, Mohshin Aziz, said:
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’ – hurting local pilots and engineers, blocking them from getting hired overseas, and drive up insurance premiums and leasing rates.
