KUALA LUMPUR: The AirAsia Group received approvals for 22 air traffic rights from the Malaysian Aviation Commission (MavCom) in the second quarter ended June 30, 2019 (Q2 2019).

MavCom said Malaysia Airlines Bhd receive 19 and Malindo Air eight allocations in Q2.

In its ATR update which covers its allocation of ATR for the aviation sector in the second quarter, there was a 100% approval rate for 51 allocations in total with one partially approved application.

Of the 51 applications, 37.3% were for domestic routes while 62.7% was for international routes. 

“MavCom approved ATRs for 19 domestic routes, 22 for routes to Asean destinations, five for destinations in China, two for destinations in India and three for other Asian destinations,” it said in a statement.   

Of the 51 ATR, 36 were issued for flights originating from Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), six from Kota Kinabalu International Airport, and the remaining 9 from other Malaysian airports. 

KLIA recorded a 38.5% increase compared with 26 ATR in the first quarter. 

MavCom also pointed out that 33 ATR that were previously approved were not utilised by the respective airlines and were subsequently returned to MavCom in the second quarter.

“The highest number of unused ATR was from the AirAsia Group with 19, followed by Malindo Air with 10. An additional four applications were also voluntarily withdrawn by the airlines in that period,” it said.

ATR are allocated by MavCom which is responsible to administer, allocate and manage air traffic rights for both domestic and international routes.