Malaysia Chapter meets Invest Selangor and Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA)

This past week saw AsBAA Malaysia Chapter busy engaging two notable stakeholders in discussing business & general aviation (BA/GA) industry developments.

On 14 July 2020, AsBAA Malaysia Chapter met with Invest Selangor to discuss a potential aviation event planned for 2021.

Invest Selangor and its unit S-DAICO (the Selangor Darul Ehsan Aerospace Industry Coordinating Office) are key stakeholders and partners to AsBAA Malaysia as 3 key airports sit within the boundaries of the State – KL International Airport (KLIA), KLIA2 and Subang International Airport. Over 62% of aviation and aerospace industries in Malaysia operate in the State of Selangor.

The discussion was on forward-looking possibilities, mainly with a proposed “BA/GA Showcase” at Subang International Airport in 2021 which Invest Selangor wants to showcase the BA/GA and aerospace manufacturing industries in the State.

While it is still at the idea stage for now, Invest Selangor are rapidly moving the dials to stimulate the BA/GA industry post-pandemic. On the drawing boards as part of this “BA/GA Showcase” is an airshow and displays from BA/GA operators in Subang and the region.

Details are still being worked out, but AsBAA Malaysia Chapter has been invited to be an event partner to Invest Selangor and S-DAICO in promoting the event. The Chapter will engage actively and will be updating Members in this development in the coming weeks and months.

Invest Selangor and S-DAICO are also the main event partners of AsBAA Malaysia for the AsBAA Malaysia Safety Day 2020.

The Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) is a key Investment agency under the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI). MIDA is an active promoter of aviation, aerospace and tourism industries in Malaysia. However, they are not as familiar with the BA/GA industry so this was an important starting point for both AsBAA and MIDA to meet and to understand each other’s aspirations and dynamics.

On 16 July, MIDA organized a business workshop at its HQ in Kuala Lumpur to engage AsBAA Members and the BA/GA industry at large. Asia Jet, JAG Helicopters, Pen Aviation, Sapura Aero, SkyPark, Dassault and Hadid represented the Chapter together with several other BA/GA professionals and companies.

MIDA used their government might to pull in various other agencies into the business workshop. Also present were their fellow MITI agency the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE), the Ministry of Transport (MOT), the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM), the Malaysian Aviation Commission (MAVCOM), Invest Selangor, the Immigration Department as well as several banks who were invited to participate.

The meeting was broken into one-on-one formats, which allowed Members to meet with each stakeholder to discuss issues and ideas, and to share pain and pressure points – both on shorter terms basis post-pandemic but also on longer term industry development.

MIDA’s strengths are to promote investments in Malaysia so it was encouraging to see that Members of the industry were still optimistic on this front going forward, rather than retreating into their respective shells after the devastating impacts of Covid-19.

The AsBAA Malaysia Chapter extends its gratitude to both MIDA and Invest Selangor for their leadership roles in supporting the BA/GA industry in Malaysia and for actively engaging the industry to survive and to grow in Malaysia.