KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 28): Malaysia has recorded delays in over 24% of flights operated within the period of January and August 2024, translating to 61,014 delays out of 258,116 flights, according to Deputy Transport Minister Hasbi Habibollah.

Out of these, 55,024 flights faced delays of less than two hours, while 5,990 were delayed by more than two hours, Hasbi said during ministerial question time in Dewan Rakyat on Monday.

“The causes of these delays include airline operational factors such as aircraft and crew rotations, as well as extraordinary circumstances and technical issues,” Hasbi said.

Hasbi was responding to questions from Mohamad Shafizan Haji Peli (GPS-Batang Lupar), Chiew Choon Man (PH-Miri), and Bung Moktar Radin (BN-Kinabatangan), who had raised concerns regarding flight disruptions pertaining to Malaysia Airlines affecting domestic travel between Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia.

Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG), the parent company of Malaysia Airlines, had announced in August, a temporary reduction of its flight network until December to address these disruptions. 

The reduction affects routes operated by Malaysia Airlines, Firefly and Amal, across Malaysia, Asean, North Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Greater China, South Asia, and the Middle East.

“Malaysia Airlines has cut 95,906 seats from its network starting in August, through December 2024. However, AirAsia, AirAsia X, and Batik Air have added 139,578 seats to accommodate the shortfall,” Hasbi noted.

Hasbi added that nearly 18% of all scheduled flights this year up to August were cancelled, amounting to 57,276 cancellations. This marks a reduction from 2023 when 20% of flights — 90,696 out of 444,234 — were cancelled.

“Flight cancellations have been primarily due to commercial reasons, such as low passenger loads, along with operational issues, including crew shortages, delayed aircraft arrivals, aircraft rotation, extraordinary circumstances like weather and air traffic control, and technical issues such as aircraft on ground (AOG) incidents,” Hasbi added.

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