Transport Minister Wee Ka Siong said on Saturday that the move will bolster tourism and economic growth in Malaysia, which opened up from the pandemic shutdowns in April and that the country's carriers will be able to expand flights to the United States after a three-year hiatus.
With the return to Category 1 our airlines can now add new flights to the US and have code sharing with American carriers. There is no more barrier now, said Wee, who was in Montreal for an ICAO assembly. This is good news after the COVID-19 epidemic. Malaysia's rating was lowered in November 2019 to Category 2 due to non-compliance with safety standards. The FAA identified deficiencies in areas such as technical expertise, record keeping and inspection procedures.
Countries are listed as either Category 1, which meets International Civil Aviation Organization standards, or Category 2, which doesn't meet standards, according to the FAA system.
Wee told an online news conference that the downgrade caused Malaysia to restructure its Civil Aviation Authority and make various efforts to strengthen its aviation workforce, documentation processes and inspection methods to ensure effective safety oversight.
He said that the FAA was satisfied that the issues identified in 2019 had been rectified, but found 29 new problems in its December assessment. He said that the issues were swiftly corrected in the first half of this year, and the FAA has restored Malaysia's Category 1 rating.
Malaysia Airlines CEO Izham Ismail said the national carrier will resume flight plans with its partners, especially American Airlines, but didn't elaborate.