MYAirline, Malaysian budget carrier abruptly suspends service, leaving travellers stranded
- Malaysian budget carrier MYAirline abruptly suspended operations on Thursday, citing financial pressures less than 11 months after it took to the skies
- The unexpected announcement on social media caught thousands by surprise and left angry passengers stranded at the airport
Malaysian budget carrier MYAirline abruptly suspended operations on Thursday, citing financial pressures less than 11 months after it took to the skies. The cancellation of the airline’s 40 flights stranded thousands of passengers.
MYAirline made the announcement on social media, catching the government and many travellers by surprise. The company apologised for its “extremely painful decision” but said “significant financial pressures” forced it to suspend operations pending an ownership restructuring and recapitalisation.
“We have worked tirelessly to explore various partnership and capital-raising options to prevent this suspension. Unfortunately, the constraints of time have left us with no alternative but to take this decision,” the airline’s board of directors said in a statement.
The move came just days after the airline said it was in the advanced stages of finalising a strategic partnership. Local media reported that the suspension signalled those talks might have collapsed.
They didn’t inform us. They just stopped operating with no airline staff at the airport. How can you just disappear like that? This is highly irresponsible
Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke slammed the hasty shutdown, saying it was unacceptable and gave the country a bad name. He said the airline had sold 125,000 tickets worth some 20 million ringgit (US$4.2 million) for flights scheduled until March 2024.
“We were caught by surprise and totally shocked,” Loke said during a news conference.