The country's two major carriers, Malaysia Airlines (MAS) and AirAsia Bhd, today succeeded setting aside a fine of RM10 million each imposed by the Malaysia Competition Commission (MyCC) for breach of market-sharing prohibition.

The Competition Appeal Tribunal made the ruling after allowing the appeal by MAS and AirAsia against MyCC's decision to fine the two companies for breach of market-sharing prohibition under the Competition Act 2010.

In a unanimous decision, tribunal president and High Court judge Hasnah Mohamed Hashim said the tribunal allowed the appeals and set aside the MyCC's ruling on March 31, 2014.

"The financial penalty will be refunded, as there is no provision on costs, so no order as to costs," said Hasnah, adding that the tribunal made the ruling after considering submissions and authorities submitted by both parties.

Other members of the tribunal were former chief judge of Malaya Haidar Mohamed Noor, Sulaiman Mahbob, Lin See-Yan, and Wan Liza Md Amin.

MyCC found that both MAS and AirAsia were in breach of the market-sharing prohibition under Section 4(2)(b) of the Act by entering into an agreement which saw the two airlines sharing markets in the air transport services sector within Malaysia.

The MyCC has the power to fine both airlines 10 percent of their global revenue for infringing the Act, but levied a far lesser penalty because the airlines were co-operative during the investigation.

The RM10 million fines by MyCC were based on flights mounted by both AirAsia Bhd and MAS in the four months between Jan 1 and April 30, 2012, on routes encompassing Kuala Lumpur-Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur-Kuching, Kuala Lumpur-Sandakan, and Kuala Lumpur-Sibu.

Lawyer Logan Sabapathy represented MAS while Tay Beng Chai and Leonard Yeoh acted for AirAsia Berhad. N Nahendran appeared for MyCC.

- Bernama