By Khairie Hisyam
Rayani Airline, Malaysia’s first Syariah-compliant airline, has gotten the final clearance to take to the skies ahead of its inaugural flight on Dec 20, 2015.
The Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) today handed the fledgling airline its Air Service Licence (ASL) and Air Operator’s Licence (AOL) in a ceremony at the Ministry of Transport’s headquarters in Putrajaya.
DCA director general Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said the clearance was granted after six months of comprehensive auditing on Rayani Airline which found satisfactory compliance with all regulations and requirements.
At the same ceremony Rayani Airline executive director Ravi Alagendrran also announced retired DCA personnel Jaafar Zamhari as the airline’s new managing director effective today.
While declining to disclose how much has been invested in stting up the airline, Jaafar said the airline is projecting a three-year repayment timeline for the initial investment and stated the company had not taken any external financing at present.
When asked what gap in the aviation market led to the formation of Rayani Airline, executive director and shareholder Ravi said he “just wanted to give it a try”, adding that it had been his dream since childhood to start an airline”.
“Now I’ve made it,” said a smiling Ravi.
On a breakeven point, Rayani Airline is eyeing between 60-65% load factor at minimum but is targeting 75% upwards, said Jaafar. However Jaafar declined to comment when asked about the company’s unique selling point as an airline.
Operations chief Sumarlee however said the company is not only eyeing the scheduled flights segment but also chartered services to offset the seasonality of the flying industry.
The response of the market has been “quite good but not really good”, said Sumarlee, attributing the lukewarm reception to advance bookings made for the Christmas and New Year holiday season. However the airline has already secured between 50% and 60% load for the Chinese New Year period onwards, he said.
“Part of our expansion plans also involves looking at the haj and umrah segment,” said Jaafar, referring to pilgrimage travels by Muslims to Mecca.
A full-service airline, Rayani Airline will nonetheless sell extra food and beverage on-board for passengers who require more than is served.
Its planes has 16 business class seats and 128 economy class seats. Rayani Airline’s cabin crew wear blue and green and female staff dons the tudung as part of its Syariah-compliant operations.
It also has a no-alcohol policy and does not serve non-halal food onboard. According to an official statement, it was incorporated on Feb 7, 2014.
It currently has two Boeing 737-400 airplanes leased from Neptune Air, said Director of Operations Sumarlee Hashimlee, with eight pilots and 50 cabin crew out of a total 355-strong workforce.
At present the airline only serves its operational base Langkawi, Kota Bharu, klia2 and Kuching. According to a prepared statement it plans to add four more aircrafts between 2016 and 2017 in a bid to go regional.
When asked why the airline chose Langkawi as its base, officials did not elaborate but stated that the company had earlier chosen Malacca as a potential base when the company was considering a different business model.
Newly minted managing director Jaafar declined to elaborate on how the airline intends to finance its expansion plans, which involves four phases up to 2020 and beyond according to its press release, but stated the airline “will try our best”.
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