SEPANG (Feb 7): The Transport Ministry has met with the new potential investors of MYAirline Sdn Bhd and said any commercial decision is entirely up to the management.

Transport Minister Anthony Loke said that as far as the government is concerned, they have to comply with all processes in terms of regulations, in terms of applying to Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) and the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM).

“All their applications must be submitted according to normal procedures for technical approvals. However at this point in time we have not heard of any application from them yet," he told the media after sending off Batik Air's passengers en route to Sibu from the KL International Airport here on Wednesday.

Loke also said he has made it clear to MYAirline that the country's aviation policy stated 51% must be owned by local companies while any foreign entity can only own up to 49%.

On Jan 12, it was reported that MYAirline had secured and signed a sale and purchase agreement (SPA) in late December 2023 with an investor from the Middle East.

This would allow MYAirline to work towards resuming operations by the middle of this year.

To recap, MYAirline flew over one million passengers domestically as of June 26, 2023, a few months after its inaugural flight as a low-cost carrier in Malaysia.

The airline had an average load factor of 91% and flew eight Airbus A320-200 aircraft till Oct 12, delivering a healthy on-time performance beyond 90%.

On Oct 12 last year, MYAirline made a sudden announcement that it had suspended its operations effective on that day, citing financial pressure as the reason.