MITI Approves 2 New Airlines To Boost Aviation Industry

In probably the biggest plot twist of 2022 so far is the news that two new airlines will be offering their services in Malaysian airspace, which comes at a time when international travel is still out of bounds for the majority of us.

The Ministry of International Trade and Industry has confirmed that two new licenses were approved, joining MAS, AirAsia, Firefly, and Malindo, among others, as commercial airline operators. Senior Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali said the move was to promote healthy competition as well as to help the aviation industry recover from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Obviously, travel and tourism were some of the most badly hit sectors of the economy following the spread of the virus which resulted in nationwide lockdowns across the world. In early 2022, we’re only starting to see long-range, cross border air travel return to normalcy, though this is still contingent on specific agreements between governments and is subject to change.

Open borders, in the true sense of the term, is still potentially some ways off. However, due to the sentiment of caution seen in many tourists caused by the spread of the Omicron variant, he added that the capacity of passengers are likely to remain low in the short to medium term.

As far as the new airlines are concerned, the approval was given to SKS Airways and MYAirline Sdn Bhd with the former being owned by the Johor-based SKS Group with funding from businessman Alan Sim See Kiong. Rather than compete with the big boys from the outset, SKS aircraft will run flights using twin prop passenger aircraft between Subang to Pulau Pangkor, Tioman, and Redang with additional niche domestic routes potentially on the horizon.

MYAirline, however, is a new player in the ultra-low-cost-carrier (ULCC) category and have been granted a license to fly passengers and cargo services like Malaysia Airlines and AirAsia. Owned jointly by Zillion Wealth, Trillion Cove Holdings, and Rayner Teo Kheng Kock, the fledging airline is also funded by Datuk Goh Hwan Hua.

Apart from its financial struts, its leadership team comprise of industry veterans from AirAsia, Malaysia Airport Holdings Bhd, the Malaysian Civil Aviation Department, and the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia.

Their plans seem much more ambitious than that of SKS, and as such we don’t quite know what their routes will be or how they intend be competitive/differentiated against established rivals.