Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on August 23, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR: A system failure since Wednesday night caused delays for at least 20 flights out of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).

It was reported that flights bound for Narita, Japan; Perth, Sydney and Melbourne, Australia; Jakarta, Indonesia; London, the UK; and Hong Kong were affected.

The disruption led some passengers venting their frustrations on social media over Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd’s (MAHB) handling of the technical glitch.

The system issue is expected to be resolved today, the airport operator said.

In a statement yesterday, MAHB said it had deployed almost 1,000 staff on the ground to provide all possible assistance to passengers and airlines.

“The team will continue to work round the clock to rectify the situation.

“Among the solutions being employed is the replacement of hardware equipment,” it said.

The disrupted connection also affected several airport systems such as the Wi-Fi connection, flight information display, check-in counters and baggage handling.

AirAsia Group Bhd group chief executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes on Twitter notified that its staff will be deployed to manage the situation at klia2, lamenting that even though it is not the airline’s responsibility.

Nevertheless, he commended MAHB chief operating officer Datuk Mohd Shukrie Mohd Salleh, a former AirAsia executive, for helping the airline.

Passengers have been advised to be at the airport at least four hours before their flight departure time.

They are also encouraged to check in via their respective airlines’ mobile application or website.

“We will be issuing further updates on the situation through our social media platforms or news releases,” said MAHB.

In their respective websites yesterday, Malaysia Airlines Bhd and AirAsia Group Bhd also advised passengers to check in via mobile or web, noting the systems’ disruption at KLIA is affecting all airlines’ check-in and boarding processes.

Malaysia Airlines said it is processing check-ins manually.

Meanwhile, Transport Minister Anthony Loke was quoted as saying yesterday that he was unaware of the root cause of the problem as he had yet to be given a report on the matter.

He asked MAHB to provide clarification to the public on what had actually happened.

The technical outage is the first major complaint at KLIA since it opened in June 1998.

The previous disruption to operations was due to power failure in September 2003, causing a total blackout and delays of six flights.

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