AsBAA Malaysia chapter meets new CEO of Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia

July 07, 2020

At the invitation of Capt Chester Voo, the new CEO of the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM), members of AsBAA Malaysia Chapter met with Capt Voo and his team from CAAM at their HQ on Thursday, 2 July 2020 for key discussions affecting the BA/GA industry in Malaysia.

At the top of the list was CAAM’s recently-launched efforts to draft new regulations for BA/GA in Malaysia based on ICAO’s Annex 6 Part II and Annex 6 Part III, with local inputs and adaptations. AsBAA Malaysia is lending full support towards this initiative as it has been a long time coming for the industry, with Capt Amrou of Asia Jet and Mike Creed of JAG Helicopters front-lining for AsBAA in this effort. This collective work is expected to run well into 2021.

AsBAA Malaysia also formally raised the topic of poor quality data reporting by the aviation and airport authorities in Malaysia, and has called for a joint-effort to upgrade and improve on raw data collection at airports – with timeliness and accuracy a key component – and subsequently on the processing, publishing and reporting of such data to the industry at large.

AsBAA Malaysia members took the opportunity to raise multiple operational issues as well, many of which were rooted in the Regulators’ past dependence on using Commercial Aviation rules and scope to regulate the BA/GA industry in Malaysia.

Among the operational issues raised were:

CAAM’s current inability to approve EDTO operations for long-haul flights
Restrictive policies and approval processes on destinations listed in AOC-holders’ Ops Manual
Flight permits to be approved within 24 hours max and relook into CAAM’s approval processes
Flight permits for urgent flights within 4-6 hours max, industry willing to pay rates for this flexibility
Flight permits – no clear rules or processes to approve unscheduled urgent or humanitarian flights
Flight permits for Medevac, FAOC issues
Flight permit requests should not be processed for unlicensed ground handlers
To allow VFR night flying for private and charter helicopters
CAAM to consider weight-regulated rules for smaller BA/GA aircraft
To reduce CAAM’s bureaucracy on approvals for Satellite Maintenance Bases.
Malaysian AOC holders are subjected to 6% applied GST while foreign operators are not
CAAM audits need to be fair to those who play by the rules vs those who do not
CAAM audit fees for ground handlers are vague and too high, with duplications existing
Separate audit structure and fees for BA/GA vs Commercial
Flying schools to be allowed to train pilots for BA/GA without being put through airline conditions
Licensing restrictions for BA/GA engineers and technicians need to be addressed
9M-registry should be protected for local government tenders and contracts
CAAM to improve on response time to operational matters raised by BA/GA operators

Capt Voo and his team are committed to support the development of the BA/GA industry in Malaysia, and he suggested regular meetings with AsBAA Malaysia to continue progressing on the collective works-in-progress and on the matters discussed.