KUALA LUMPUR: MYAirline Sdn Bhd is currently left with no aircraft as all 10 of its Airbus A320s were returned to its lessors, just shy of one month after it abruptly suspended flight operations on Oct 12.
Business Times learnt that the lessors had filed to deregister five of the A320s from the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) and another five had found a new lessee, AirAsia Bhd.
CAAM confirmed to Business Times yesterday on the deregistration request of five aircraft namely with the registration numbers 9M-DAC and 9M-DAD on Oct 26, 9M-DAJ and 9M-DAL on Oct 27 and 9M-DAH on Nov 3.
With no fleet, industry insiders are sceptical on how the cash-strapped MYAirline would restart its operations.
"The market is hot right now for narrowbody aeroplanes like the A320. The backlog orders from (aircraft) manufacturers and the supply chain issues affecting (aircraft) production makes airlines thirstier for more planes.
"They (airlines) are competing with each other for planes. The cost of renting (commercial) airplanes has also gone up, especially the 'hot' ones like the narrow-bodies. It is more expensive to lease today compared to a few years ago," an airline insider said.
MYAirline had leased 10 A320s from eight lessors namely Aviation Capital Group LLC, AerCap Holdings NV, Aircastle Ltd, Avolon, Carlyle Aviation Partners, Genesis, Mizuho and SMBC Aviation Capital.
The sudden suspension of MYAirline's operations had partly led to the operating loss that SIA Engineering Co Ltd (SIA Engineering) made in its second quarter FY2024 result.
The company recorded an operating loss of SG$0.3 million on the back of SG$252.1 million revenue for its 2QFY2024.
SIA Engineering is an engineering unit of Singapore Airlines Group.
According to Singapore's Business Times, the hit that SIA Engineering took in its second quarter was partly due to the debt impartment provision from the suspension of MYAirline.
"The aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services provider declined to disclose the quantum set aside to allow for uncollected payments from the budget carrier," it reported.
On Oct 11, SIA Engineering had inked a 10-year agreement with MYAirline to provide MRO services for the carrier's fleet of A320 aircraft. The 10-year deal came with an option of an additional two years.
MYAirline had said on Oct 31 that it was in advanced stages of negotiations with two potential investors to finalise a recapitalisation package to revive its operations, reimburse the affected passengers and pay the salaries and statutory dues to its employees.
On Oct 16, MYAirline's air operator certificate (AOC) was suspended for 90 days by CAAM.
The aviation regulator's chief executive officer, Datuk Captain Norazman Mahmud told Business Times in an interview on Oct 25 that CAAM was re-auditing the carrier's AOC renewal checklist.
On Nov 1, the Malaysian Aviation Commission suspended MYAirline's air service licence.