Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) continues to battle a system glitch that has greatly affected thousands of travellers for the past two days.
In a statement today (23 August), Malaysia Airport Holdings Berhad (MAHB) said that a team is still working on stabilising the system as of 6 am. MAHB added that it has utilised all 38 remote bays at the KLIA Main Terminal to cater to aircraft that are still not able to proceed to the scheduled gates which are still occupied by planes that haven’t taken off.
To ease the flow of passengers at the gates affected by the delayed flights, MAHB said that four additional buses have been provided to facilitate passenger movements between remote bays from the terminal with the assistance of more ground staff.
Additionally, free parking was provided for all passengers who parked at KLIA Main Terminal (Block A, B, C and D) till 6.00 am today (23/8).
On 22 August, MAHB announced that a system disruption affected several airport systems from WIFI connection to Flight Information Display System (FIDS), Check-In-Counters and Baggage Handling Systems (BHS). As such, passengers were advised to arrive at the airport at least four hours before their departure time and to stay updated with their airlines to the latest flight schedules.
Later that day, MAHB said their technical team were working around the clock to stabilise critical passenger-facing systems at the airport.
The statement read, “We deeply regret the inconvenience caused to the passengers due to this disruption. Please be assured that we are sparing no efforts to provide assistance to passengers and airlines”, adding that 500 staff have been deployed to assist passengers on the ground.
By 10:30 am on Thursday, MAHB said that a total of 20 departing flights at KLIA Main terminal has been delayed. It urged travellers to stay updated on social media and encouraged them to check-in online via websites and mobile apps of the relevant airlines.
In another statement later on 22 August, MAHB said that the systems have not been fully stabilised and that they were testing replacement hardware equipment and hope to resolve the issue by the next morning on 23 August.
More staff were deployed to assist passengers, totalling to about 1,000 workers. Also, the operating hours were extended at all other MAHB airports in the country on Thursday (22 August) night to cater to the delayed departing flights from KUL.
Internal poster made public
Amid the chaos, a poster started circulating online for volunteers to turn up at KLIA and klia2 to help manage passengers.
MAHB on Facebook two hours ago (23 August) clarified that the poster is an internal communication meant for their staff, not members of the public. As such, it urged the public to keep the phone lines listed on the poster clear as its being used to coordinate their internal efforts. The public was also assured that MAHB had enough people on the ground to manage the situation.
The company said, “We are very appreciative of this gesture and thank the public for their concern and effort. However, we would like to reassure that our internal mobilisation of about 1,000 additional staff on the ground is sufficient.”
MAHB added, “Moreover, airports being a high-security area require all who work here to have valid security passes.”
We would also appreciate if the phone lines stated in the poster be kept free from calls by members of the public as it is being used for coordinating our mobilisation efforts.
For now, it seems the issue has yet to be resolved.
