THERE is something very rotten in the state of our airline regulators. How else would you explain the sudden "disappearance" of MYAirline from the skies of Malaysia.
Another here-today-gone-tomorrow Malaysian story. Remember Rayani Air, launched in 2015 with all the fanfare of a new airline taking to the crowded skies? In just six months, it got its airline certification revoked by the Civil Aviation Department because of concerns about its safety audit and administration.
Months earlier, it was suspended. Rayani Air made history in two ways. One, it marketed itself as the first Malaysian airline to be syariah-compliant. It turned out to be more fluff than reality. Two, it was the first airline to have clocked the lowest air miles in the country's history.
Here in December, gone in June. Rayani Air and MYAirline should never have been given permission to fly. The fact that they were points to one thing. Regulators don't regulate until something goes terribly wrong. One charged with oversight — the Transport Ministry— was even caught unawares.
This stinks. It is not about an errant airline disappearing into thin air without informing the authorities, but it is about how the ministry, the Malaysian Aviation Commission and the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia let such companies get into the airline business in the first place.
MYAirline's problems, like those of Rayani Air's, were detectable from day one. They had neither the cash nor the competence to run an airline business. Yet our regulators gave both a miss.
Here in Malaysia, just about anyone can get planes flying. Incompetence isn't a hurdle. An airline can even get its licence renewed two days before being grounded. Talk about the ease of doing business. Just have some money — not too much, not even enough to pay your employees.
That was Rayani Air's formula. On April 22, 2016, 416 of its staff told this newspaper that they were not paid salaries for March. What's worse, RM900,000 deducted months earlier from their salaries for the Employees Provident Fund and Socso weren't paid to the two organisations.
This is why those with no cash and competence must never be allowed to start a business, most of all capital-intensive airline business. It appears our regulators never learned the Rayani Air lesson at all. Thanks to the regulators,
MYAirline went on to do the same. The story is that the airline was financially challenged and it was looking for a white knight to make all its red ink go black. It appears that the white knight was smarter than our regulators. Seeing a bottomless financial hole, he just galloped away.
MYAirline just didn't have the funds to send its planes to the tarmac, leaving 125,000 passengers stranded. The passengers are not only unsure when they will get the money back, but they have to pay probably more to fly another airline to the same destination.
Mind you, it's not their fault but that of MYAirline's shareholders, directors, management and regulators. Obviously, MYAirline is responsible for the fiasco.
But the responsibility mustn't stop there. Our regulators and the ministry must share much of the blame. Consumers look to regulators to protect them. Ineptitude must have a price. If those tasked with regulating can't regulate, they must be replaced. Follies such as these call for greater consumer protection.