Malaysian Aviation Commission Act 2015

The Malaysian aviation industry has seen an encouraging growth over the last decade with the government and tourism industry players' continuing initiative in growing the tourism industry in Malaysia. However, 2014 has been a tragic and horrifying year for the Malaysian aviation sector with 2 air tragedies involving Malaysia Airlines' flight MH370 and MH17. Despite the tragedies, Malaysia remains one of the most visited countries in Asia, coming in behind China with an approximate 27.4 million international tourist arrivals in 2014.

As part of the government's efforts to streamline and strengthen the national aviation industry, an independent regulator was established under the Malaysian Aviation Commission Act 2015 ("the Act"). The Act was debated and passed by the Parliament on 9 April 2015 consisting of 14 parts, 105 sections and 3 schedules.

The Act seeks to establish an independent Malaysian Aviation Commission ("the Commission") whose objectives include, amongst others, to regulate economic matters relating to the civil aviation industry, to strengthen the stability of the aviation industry, to provide just and fair treatment to all industry players, to provide a clear and transparent decision making process and to establish a competitive framework to promote healthy, stable and sustainable competition in the aviation industry.

The Commission will be under the purview of the Ministry of Transport ("the Ministry"). While the Commission is entrusted with the duties to oversee the economic and commercial aspects of the aviation industry; the technical, safety and security aspects of the industry remain under the purview of the Department of Civil Aviation ("DCA"). In this regard, the Act provides that the Commission shall consult the Director General of DCA on any technical, safety and security issue in the performance of its functions.

With the introduction of the Act, the Commission will take over from the Ministry the issuance of aviation licenses and determination of aeronautical fees and charges such as passenger service charge, landing fees and parking charges. The current licensing regime and power to impose charges is regulated by the Civil Aviation Act 1999 and Civil Aviation Regulations 1996 which will soon be placed under the jurisdiction of the Commission under the Act.

A few other interesting aspects of the Act which are worth mentioning are the competition, public service obligations and consumer protection mechanism...