The FAA’s safety rating is based on a country’s aviation oversight regime and is an assessment of the country’s civil aviation authority. The Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia and the FAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The new rating means the air carriers from the country cannot start new services and are restricted to current levels of any existing service to the United States. The downgrade places Malaysia in the same FAA category as neighbor Thailand, which was downgraded to Category 2 in December 2015 and has since tried unsuccessfully to restore the Category 1 rating. At present, the only Malaysian airline route to the United States is AirAsia X Bhd services from Kuala Lumpur to Honolulu via Osaka.

Source: bd News24 November 11, 2019 12:09 UTC