This is as more and more international borders reopen and travellers take the opportunity to travel abroad
by SHAFIQQUL ALIFF / TMRpic
AIR traffic passenger increased from an average of 2.9 million between January to April 2022 to an average of 4.79 million between May and June 2022, the Malaysian Aviation Commission said (Mavcom).
Its executive chairman Datuk Seri Saripuddin Kasim said global air travel saw a strong recovery in the first half of the year as more and more international borders reopened and travellers took the opportunity to travel abroad in addition to improved domestic travel.
He said Malaysia’s aviation service providers should prepare by taking heed of the complaints breakdown observed in the Consumer Report as guidance to further improve service levels as well as address the root cause of prevailing issues.
“As a proactive measure, we have also been actively engaging aviation service providers to ensure these issues are being addressed,” he added.
Saripuddin urged air travellers to utilise the travel advisory feature within the FlySmart mobile app as it provides up-to-date information on global air travel requirements to help travellers better prepare while instilling confidence to travel and ensuring a smoother journey.
“Additionally, Mavcom is working towards the enhancement of the Malaysian Aviation Consumer Protection Code 2016 (MACPC) to further protect air travellers and in continuing to empower them to exercise their rights,” Saripuddin said.
Meanwhile, the aviation commission said the 12th bi-annual Consumer Report 2022 registered a total of 1,251 complaints and 99.1% (1,240) complaints received were related to airlines while the remaining were related to airports.
Mavcom said this is an increase of almost eight times more than the 157 complaints lodged within the same period last year.
“As a result of Mavcom’s review on the complaints received, about a quarter of the complaints received in saw airlines reversing their initial decisions by providing resolutions that were more equitable or satisfactory to consumers.
“Overall, 87.9% (1,100) of the total complaints have been resolved and closed,” Mavcom said.
The aviation commission added that they also received 1,317 non-actionable complaints, comprising 1,160 complaints with incomplete documentation and 59 complaints where the airline or airport concerned had fulfilled the obligations under MACPC.
It added that 35 complaints were withdrawn by consumers, 31 complaints were beyond the scope of the MACPC, 29 complaints were pertaining to bookings made through travel agents and three complaints were lodged more than a year from the incident date.