SEREMBAN: The government will not get involved if airlines decide to seek compensation from Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) for the losses they incurred following the systems disruption at KLIA last week.
Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook said it was up to the affected airlines if they felt it necessary to take such an action. It was reported that the losses to the industry amounted to tens of millions of ringgit.
“That’s between the airlines and the airport operators,” he told a press conference after launching the Commuting Safety Support Programme at Wisma TNB, here, today.
“As far as the ministry is concerned, we have set up a committee to investigate the problem, as this is not something we want to recur.”
Loke said the committee has been given a month to probe the matter and come up with a detailed report of what really happened.
“This will be reported back to the cabinet. And whether it was a systems failure, what caused it to fail, and why the problem was not solved immediately, all of this will be looked at,” he said.
A failure to the KLIA’s Total Airport Management System (TAMS), that was first detected last Wednesday, resulted in major flight cancellations and delays for several days.
The systems disruption affected several critical airport services, including internet connection, flight information terminals and check-in counters, with passengers also advised to arrive at least four hours before their departure time.
It was reported that a couple of airlines would be seeking compensation from MAHB for the systems glitch that forced delays and passengers cancelling their flights and seeking refunds.
Although the official reason for the system failure was yet to be determined, it is believed that this was due to a breakdown in the core switch that links all information systems at KLIA, as the device had passed its current lifespan.
However, MAHB has not ruled out the possibility that the glitch was caused by an act of malicious intent.
Asked to comment on this, Loke said it was too soon to tell, and that it was best that the committee that has been set up to probe the matter complete its investigations first.
“I don’t wish to make any conclusion at the moment,” he said, adding that more members might be pulled into the six-man committee should there be a necessity.
