KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 13 — Shares of Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd were still in positive territory despite the downgrade of the country’s air safety rating by the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) effective November 11.

The airport operator was among the top gainers on the local bourse at 11.50am, adding 10 sen to RM8.30 with 324,600 shares transacted.

Yesterday, FAA confirmed that Malaysia has lost its category 1 safety rating and will no longer be able to open new routes or increase existing services to the United States.

Malaysian airlines will also be subjected to additional checks at US airports.

Low-cost airline AirAsia Group Bhd’s shares went down by three sen to RM1.89 with 5.78 million shares transacted, while AirAsia X Bhd was flat at 17.5 sen.

However, Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Amiruddin Hamzah said that the downgrade will not affect foreign tourist arrivals in the country.

He also expressed confidence that Malaysia would be able to reach its target of 30 million tourist arrivals in conjunction with Visit Malaysia Year 2020, via various attractive packages being offered to bring in visitors. — Bernama