Ikram, ICAO to review klia2 safety

SEPANG: The government will be reappointing independent consultant Ikram and the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to review safety issues at klia2, which has been in operation for less than a month.
Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said this after various groups criticised the airport authorities, alleging that depressions on aircraft parking aprons and taxiways are cropping up, caused by heavy rain and aircraft movement.
"Based on this, we have decided to appoint Ikram and involve ICAO to provide suggestions (for improvements)," he said.
Hishammuddin added that the airport will be assessed in terms of the safety of the apron, taxiway, runway and terminal, and also said the safety report will be made public.
"We want this to be done as soon as possible, as the first one was done within three weeks before (operations began)," he said.
ICAO had visited klia2 prior to its opening on May 2 and had found the airport safe for operations.
Hishammuddin said there had been positive public feedback, with the airport receiving over one million passengers since May 2.
"The daily traffic averages about 60,000 passengers, and we expect 24 million in the first 12 months of operations," he told a press conference after visiting the airport today.
On another matter, Hishammuddin said that raw data from Inmarsat pertaining to MH370 will be released to the public by today.
He said Inmarsat and the Malaysian Department of Civil Aviation are working with other aviation experts, including the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and Air Accident Investigation Branch in releasing the data.