Malaysian Aviation Commission (MAVCOM) confirmed (13-Jun-2018) a rejection of AirAsia's application for more Kuala Lumpur-Haikou and Kota Kinabalu-Sandakan traffic rights. MAVCOM said:
- The allocation of air traffic rights follows a process that has been discussed in close consultation and finalised after taking into consideration airlines' views, including AirAsia;
- In allocating the rights, MAVCOM aims to facilitate "orderly growth". MAVCOM said the traffic rights sought by AirAsia created "the risk of overcapacity" which "could lead to flight cancellations and merging of flights, which will inconvenience consumers".
MAVCOM said AirAsia can resubmit its application for both routes in Oct-2018. [more - original PR]