PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) has lodged a police report against Tan Sri Tony Fernandes over claims that it had instructed AirAsia to cancel all 120 additional flights the airline had scheduled before GE14.Calling Fernandes' accusations "baseless and malicious", it also denied the AirAsia Group CEO's claims that Mavcom had summoned AirAsia. "Only AirAsia proceeded to reduce its application for extra flights while Firefly, Malaysia Airlines and Malindo Air maintained their requests," it said. "Mavcom further reiterates that it had not issued any directive to any airline to reduce or cancel any flights. "Inclusive of AirAsia, Mavcom approved additional flight applications of the various Malaysian-based airlines as of 24 April 2018, totalling 166 flights (83 return journeys with a maximum volume of 26,434 passengers)," it added.Mavcom said it is mandated under the Malaysian Aviation Commission Act 2015 to act as an independent regulator for economic and commercial matters related to civil aviation in Malaysia.On Fernandes' statement that "within 24 hours, we were summoned by the Malaysian Aviation Commission", Mavcom refutes that any AirAsia staff members were summoned between April 17 and May 13 to appear before the Commission regarding the matter.After receiving brickbats over AirAsia's endorsement for Barisan Nasional, Fernandes released a video on Sunday (May 13) apologising for "buckling under the pressure".He said the low-cost carrier added 120 extra flights, which would have carried 26,000 people on top of normal flights and reduced ticket prices.Unfortunately, he said, this put him under even more pressure when the government realised that the airline was ferrying so many voters. "Within 24 hours, we were summoned by the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) and told to cancel all those flights," he claimed.

Source: The Star May 15, 2018 06:56 UTC