Eight aircraft lessors have asked MYAirline to hand back the Airbus A320s since it ceased flight operations on Thursday. Four of the ailing airline’s aircraft are leased from Ireland.
MYAirline’s interim chief executive officer Stuart Cross has resigned, while the airline is expected to return the nine Airbus A320s that make up the airline’s fleet to lessors.
The lessors are Aviation Capital Group LLC, AerCap Holdings NV, Aircastle Ltd, Avolon, Carlyle Aviation Partners, Genesis, Mizuho and SMBC Aviation Capital.
Currently, the airline is being run by its interim accountable executive Datuk Seri Azharuddin Abdul Rahman.
The new CEO said that all MYAirline personnel were still under full employment and no one had been placed on unpaid leave. and the airline is discussing with its lessors to keep all of its narrow-body aircraft. “In regards to the aircraft lessors, we are in talks with them to retain our aircraft.”
Analysts are raising concerns about MYAirline’s ability to operate as a scheduled commercial air operator as doubts surround the status of one of the two licenses required.
In May this year, MYAirline secured leasing agreements with the likes of Aircastle, Avolon, Genesis and SMBC for a total of 17 aircraft valued at €420m by end-2023.
Former chief executive officer (CEO) Rayner Teo said at the time that the leasing partnerships reflected its exciting future for growth.
Despite commencing operations on December 1, 2022, MYAirline has been experiencing financial losses in less than a year. It is unclear whether they have applied for a renewal of their air service license.
Mal;aysia’a vaiton regulator Mavcom said: “every holder of an ASL is required to provide regular financial and operational reports to Mavcom as part of their licence’s conditions.”
The Malaysian transport ministry said: “We were caught by surprise. We were totally shocked. MYAirline did not even inform us or Mavcom. MYAirline just disappeared. They stopped operating, the flights didn’t take off and their employees were also not around the airport, leaving passengers in total confusion.”
AirAsia CEO Bo Lingam said that AirAsia is interested in leasing up to six out of nine A320s MYAirline is using.
