KUALA LUMPUR (June 22): Medium-haul, low-cost carrier AirAsia X Bhd (KL:AAX) was the most punctual of four Malaysia-based airlines in May, having 88.7% of its international flights departing within 15 minutes of the scheduled departure time, according to latest data by the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom), the country’s economic aviation regulator.

On-time performance (OTP) was, however, down by a marginal 0.5% over the previous month’s 89.2%.

AAX’s sister short-haul airline AirAsia came in second place, with an OTP of 83.8%, also down by 4.7 percentage points from April’s OTP of 88.5%. Flag carrier Malaysia Airlines followed in third place with an OTP of 69.1%, a 6.3-percentage point decrease from 75.4% in April.

Batik Air concluded the month in fourth place with an OTP of 52.8%. This was a 10.7-percentage point decrease from the previous month’s performance of 63.5%.

The Mavcom data showed that when it came to domestic flights, AAX also recorded the highest OTP among the four carriers in Malaysia in May, achieving an OTP of 87.5%, a 7.5-point improvement from April’s 80%. This was followed by AirAsia with an OTP of 85.2%, Malaysia Airlines (79.5%), and Batik Air (70.9%).

However, it is worth noting that in April and May, AAX operated 10 and eight domestic flights respectively.

Mavcom has started providing actual data on departure flights operated by the four carriers at Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KUL T1 and T2) on its website since April 15. The data comes from airport operator Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (KL:AIRPORT). The commission said it will make available data on airline performance for other airports in the country “in due course”.

Airlines are required to achieve a minimum of 85% OTP every month. OTP is defined as flights departing within 15 minutes of their scheduled departure time.

Mavcom is anticipating passenger traffic to reach between 93.9 million and 107.1 million passengers this year, reflecting a growth of between 10% and 25% year-on-year. This forecast signifies a recovery of up to 98% of 2019’s 109.3 million passengers.

To date, Mavcom has imposed financial penalties totalling RM4.76 million on AirAsia, AAX and Batik Air. The airlines were fined for contravening the Malaysian Aviation Consumer Protection Code 2016 (MACPC), including failing to disclose the final price of airfares and failing to communicate changes in flight status to consumers.