KUALA LUMPUR, March 23 – The Transport Ministry is confident that Malindo Air would fulfil the conditions set by the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) to extend its air operators certificate (AOC), which is expiring on Aug 31 this year. Its minister, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, said the DCA had issued a directive to the airline to undertake improvements and resolve its documentation. “We carry out audits on Malindo Air from time to time if there are safety issues or does not follow the standard operating procedure (SOP) and regulations (set) by the DCA.
“I am confident Malindo Air will meet the requirements set by the DCA in the near future…within three months,” he told reporters at Parliament lobby here today. He was commenting on a message being widely circulated via WhatsApp which alleged that the DCA would not extend Malindo Air’s AOC as it found 90 offences in the airline’s flight operations management, aircraft maintenance, engineering, pilots’ licences and safety.
However, DCA director-general Datuk Azharuddin Abdul Rahman yesterday denied the allegations circulated on social media and instead said that the DCA was satisfied with several improvement efforts undertaken by the airline, which had applied to extend the AOC after its expiry on Aug 31. Liow said the audit undertaken by the DCA on Malindo Air was a normal procedure for every airline to ensure safety of aircraft operations for passengers. “The DCA is a department that monitors safety and airline companies’ development… needs to be strict in terms of SOP requirements,” he said.
