KUALA LUMPUR, July 13 — Applications for Air Traffic Rights (ATR)  in the first half of this year dropped 74.3 per cent compared to the second half of 2019, according to the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) said in an ATR report.

It said, during the period under review (Jan 1- June 30 2020), the commission approved 27 ATR applications, equivalent to 87.1 per cent of the applications received.

"Two ATR allocations were for domestic destinations while the remaining 25 were for international destinations.

"Approvals for international routes comprise of seven for destinations in China, one for Amsterdam, one for Auckland and the remaining 16 for other Asian destinations,” it said in a statement.

Mavcom said in terms of allocations by airports, 20 ATRs were issued for flights originating from KL International Airport (KUL), two from Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport (SZB), and five from other Malaysian airports.

Of the 27 ATR approvals for the first half of the year, Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAB) and Malindo Airways Sdn Bhd (Malindo Air) received the highest number of approvals, totalling 14 ATRs, while AirAsia Bhd, AirAsia X Bhd, Raya Airways and My Jet Xpress followed with six, five, one and one allocations respectively.

In addition, there were 39 ATRs that were approved prior to the first half of 2020 but were not utilised by the airlines.

These ATRs were subsequently returned to Mavcom during the first half of the year.

The highest number of unutilised ATRs was from AirAsia Group Bhd (17), followed by Malindo Air (15), MAB (five), Fly Firefly Sdn Bhd (Firefly) (one) and Raya Airways Sdn Bhd (one).

To ease airlines’ administrative challenges during the current pandemic, the commission had removed the condition which automatically revokes ATRs which are not utilised within six months from the date of the grant of the approval to airlines, effective June 5,  2020.

This in effect, allows Malaysian scheduled carriers to keep their current portfolio of ATRs for an indefinite period until further notice.

This removal will not apply to ATRs that have already been deemed expired and automatically revoked, as well as for routes in which airlines have wilfully terminated on their own accord.

The Air Traffic Rights Report is released on a bi-annual basis and more information can be found on Mavcom’s website at www.mavcom.my. — Bernama