MAVCOM Approves 100% of Air Traffic Rights for Q2 2019

AirAsia Group received the highest number of Air Traffic Rights allocated

The Malaysian Aviation Commission (MAVCOM) recently released its second quarterly Air Traffic Rights (ATR) update which encapsulates the Commission's allocation of ATR for the aviation sector from 1 April to 30 June 2019.

For the period of 1 April to 30 June 2019, ATR applications saw a 100 per cent approval rate by MAVCOM, numbering 51 allocations in total with one partially approved application.

Of the 51 applications, 37.3 per cent were for domestic routes while 62.7 per cent was for international routes. MAVCOM approved ATRs for 19 domestic routes, 22 for routes to ASEAN destinations, 5 for destinations in China, 2 for destinations in India and 3 for other Asian destinations.

Of the 51 ATR, 36 ATR were issued for flights originating from Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KUL), 6 from Kota Kinabalu International Airport, and the remaining 9 from other Malaysian airports. KUL in particular, saw a 38.5 per cent increase compared to 26 ATR in the first quarter.

For this second quarter of 2019, the AirAsia Group received the highest number of approvals at 22 ATR. Malaysia Airlines Berhad and Malindo Air followed with 19 and 8 allocations respectively for the same period.

Furthermore, a total of 33 ATR that were previously approved were not utilised by the respective airlines and were subsequently returned to MAVCOM during the second quarter of 2019. The highest number of unused ATR was from the AirAsia Group with 19, followed by Malindo Air with 10. An additional 4 applications were also voluntarily withdrawn by the airlines in that period.

Meanwhile, for the six-month period of 1 January to 30 June 2019, MAVCOM had approved 100 per cent of the cumulative 104 ATR applications it received. MAVCOM had approved during this period 36 domestic ATR, 35 for ASEAN destinations, 16 for destinations in China, and the remaining 17 for other Asian destinations and Australia. The AirAsia Group received the highest number of ATR allocations for the first half of the year, with 38.