Sabah wants KKIA problems sorted out

The Sabah Cabinet wants airport operator Malaysia Airports Bhd (MAB) to resolve any problem at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA).

Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman said the state Cabinet had explicitly told senior MAB officials that incidents such as the recent blackout of KKIA runway lights must never recur.

“We are extremely concerned that this incident resulted in the suffering of some 6,000 passengers. This is not good for the government, Sabah and MAB,” he said following the weekly Cabinet meeting here yesterday.

At the meeting, Musa and other state ministers were briefed by MAB chairman Tan Sri Bashir Ahmad Abdul Majid and its senior general manager Datuk Azmi Murad about the failure of KKIA runway lights last Thursday and until 10pm the next day that disrupted night flight operations at the nations second busiest airport.

5 comments | FULL STORY

Musa wants MAB to explain KK airport blackout fiasco

Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman has directed Malaysia Airports Bhd (MAB) to explain to the state cabinet the runway lights fiasco that rocked KK International Airport (KKIA) for two days.

“The cabinet is expecting a full report from MAB and the measures to be taken to ensure that it doesn't happen again,” Musa said in a statement yesterday.

Musa said the blackout of the runway lights on Thursday should never have happened at KKIA, which is the country's second busiest airport.

“And the problem should not have taken so long to fix. It inconvenienced thousands and may possibly have affected Sabah's image as a tourist destination,” he added.

Some 6,000 passengers in 51 flights were affected by flight cancellations, diversions and delays. MAB managed to overcome the problem at about 10pm on Friday after a sub-contractor replaced damaged cables on one of the two runways. The runway light problem was widely blamed on the much delayed upgrading of the airport's facilities, including the runway extension.

5 comments | FULL STORY