GEORGE TOWN: DAP national chairman Lim Guan Eng has called for the management and shareholders of the budget carrier, MYAirline Sdn Bhd to be severely punished.
He said the irresponsible management and shareholders of the budget carrier had defrauded 125,000 passengers of RM20 million in flight tickets booked in advance up to March 2024.
"The abrupt termination of services and flights without any public assurances by the company of a full refund of the RM20 million bought by the 125,000 passengers is not only irresponsible as stated by Transport Minister Loke Siew Fook, but may be criminal in nature.
"The management has acted in a criminal manner by hiding crucial information and even defrauding both the authorities and their customers, who had gone to the airports fruitlessly for non-existent flights. Many angry passengers feel cheated, especially the 10,000 passengers on 39 flights who turned up in vain yesterday.
"As such, the irresponsible management and shareholders of the budget carrier should be severely punished for defrauding," the Bagan member of parliament said.
The former finance minister also asked why MYAirline Sdn Bhd was given a license to operate by the previous government when they had such a dubious financial background.
"Such failure of governance by the previous government has impaired Malaysia's international reputation in the airline industry.
"Was any proper diligence done by the relevant authorities then until the budget airline company can go bust barely a year after operations commenced?" he asked.
Lim said a full refund of the RM20 million in flight tickets bought by the 125,000 passengers must be the foremost priority.
"Whilst we are certain that both the Transport Ministry and the Malaysian Aviation Commission (MAVCOM) will conduct a thorough investigation, action must be taken not just against the company but any government official that may have colluded with the company," he stressed.
The budget carrier had apologised for not providing ample time to its passengers on the temporary suspension of its flights.
It said it was unable to offer its affected passengers any immediate service recovery options due to its financial issues and asked passengers affected by its flight suspension to contact its representatives at customerservice@myairline.my to initiate their refund process.