PUTRAJAYA: The Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) says it will be able to bounce back as a Category One Aviation Regulator by the US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) in 12 months.

CAAM authority member Afzal Abdul Rahim (pic) said that they would be addressing matters raised during the audit.

"These are CAAM's shortcomings, not the airlines'.

"There were 300 questions asked on the 300 areas surveyed. Thirty-three areas are still outstanding, plus some of the ambiguous ones," he said during a press conference Tuesday (Nov 12) at its office here.

"The typical timeframe the FAA allows for us to be re-evaluated is between 12 to 24 months as evidence by other countries. We are confident we can attain that in 12 months but we need to convince the FAA to come visit us in," said Afzal.

He added that code-sharing could be affected due to the downgrade but CAAM is still awaiting clarification on the matter.

On the shortcomings raised, Afzal said that they were legislative, budgetary, human resource and documentation-related in nature.

An example of a legislative shortcoming was that the FAA believed that CAAM should have the powers to fine and penalise licensees.

However, Afzal said Malaysian law does not allow CAAM to issue penalties as that is decided by the courts.

"The first hurdle we have to face is that fact that we need to amend some of our laws to cure some of these issues. We are constrained by laws. The second challenge is that our aviation regulations need to be updated," he said.

On whether CAAM would propose changes to the law, he said that they had a list.

Regarding documentation, he explained that CAAM follows International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards and some housekeeping issues were raised because the FAA had other criteria.

"Perhaps there were some documentations that did not meet the level that the FAA felt it should be at. We've reviewed this and we feel that our documentation is in good order.

"For example the ICAO does not state that we need to match engine numbers and aircraft models but the FAA thinks that we do. So they are some discrepancies," he said.

On the possibility of future audits by other regulatory bodies due to the downgrade, Afzal said that CAAM is ready.

"We are expecting that to happen. They are audits done all the time and that is the nature of our work. We are always prepared," he said.

The listing of CAAM as a Category 2 Aviation Regulator by the FAA came into effect on Monday (Nov 11) following a review conducted in April this year.

The effect of the listing meant that airlines licensed by CAAM would not be able to add new routes to and from the United States.