News
Rayani Air ordered to suspend operations
April 15th 2016
Malaysia's Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) has suspended Rayani Air's air operator’s certificate for three months after frequent disruptions that left thousands of passengers stranded since the carrier began operations last December. Read More »
Owned by oil and gas firm, Merdeka Jayabumi Enterprise, and mining company, Terus Maju Metal, Rayani Air said it was a full-service, shariah-compliant “halal airline”. Its flight attendants don the hijab. It operates two B737-400s on domestic services connecting Kuala Lumpur, Langkawi, Kota Kinabalu, Kota Bharu and Kuching.
On Facebook, Rayani Air owner, Ravi Alagendrran, apologised to passengers. "Rayani Air is a new airline in this country. There are a lot of things we have to learn and improve on," he wrote, thanking customers and crew for their support.Malaysia Airlines and AirAsia Malaysia are offering stranded Rayani Air passengers special fares to get them to their destinations.
In other Malaysian aviation updates, the new debris resembling cabin interior walls, found on Rodrigues Island, 560kms off Mauritius, has been transferred to Malaysia for examination. The debris is suspected to come from missing Malaysia Airlines (MAB) flight MH370.
MAB in February recorded its first operating profit in years, although overall it is still in the red. “For a company that lost 2 billion ringgit ($515 million) just last year, if you are able to break even for a month or so, it means the financial gap between revenue and cost has significantly closed,” said CEO, Christoph Mueller. MAB hopes to be profitable again by 2018.
