By Khairul Khalid
Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd issues an unusual public announcement to find the owners of three Boeing 747s mysteriously stranded in KLIA. Other than costs incurred, could abandoned planes pose dangers to national security?
It was a lost-and-found plea of jumbo proportions. Three huge commercial planes lay unclaimed on the tarmac of KLIA for a lengthy period. Other than the costs incurred, could there have been security implications?
This week, Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) took out a classified advertisement in local daily The Star. It demanded the unidentified owners of three Boeing 747s, parked in KLIA, to step forward and claim the long-abandoned aircraft.
People usually lose luggage and other travel items in airports. Cars have been known to be deserted in parking lots for months. But three 400-tonne commercial jets? It is not quite certain who the joke is meant to be on, but April is still a few months away.
“If you fail to collect the aircraft within 14 days of the date of this notice, we reserve the right to sell or otherwise dispose of the aircraft,” said MAHB in the ad that also included photographs of the cargo planes. The airport operator claims that “exhaustive efforts” have been undertaken to contact the owners of the airplanes, to no avail.
“The giving of such notice by way of advertisement is a common and reasonable step in the process of debt recovery especially in cases where the company concerned has ceased operations and is a foreign entity,” said MAHB.
Two airlines have officially denied being the owners of the unclaimed 747s – Malaysia Airlines and Air Atlanta Icelandic.
Hopefully, MAHB will be able to trace the irresponsible parents of these orphaned Boeings. The phenomenon of abandoned planes is not entirely uncommon around the world, apparently, but this odd case still raises worrying issues.
It mainly centers around the matter of national security.
Try leaving a luggage, a package or even a vehicle unattended, in unsupervised premises, for a considerable time at an airport. People will start getting suspicious. Red flags will be raised immediately. Authorities will be alerted. In a worst-case scenario, the police or even the bomb squad may be called in to investigate.
It may sound like an exaggeration by someone who have seen one too many crime shows on TV, but these are the realities in times of heightened security fears.
Should abandoned airplanes be treated any differently?
Although MAHB is not to blame for the stranded planes, why has it taken so long to give the owners an ultimatum?
The planes have reportedly been sitting idle for more than a year. MAHB’s long and futile efforts to identify or contact the owners – purportedly foreign entities that may have ceased operations – presumably led to its last gasp 14 day “eviction” notice.
The airport operator may have been going by the book. MAHB cited the Civil Aviation Act 1969 for its latest action. Apparently, the ownership of the planes have changed hands several times.
Regardless, shouldn’t this matter have been nipped in the bud earlier, in the interest of national security?
Imagine the precedent it sets for would-be plane discarders worldwide. We are sending the message that anyone could just leave their planes in Malaysian airports, for whatever reason and without serious repercussions, for more than a year.
What if these planes were, god forbid, being abandoned for more sinister reasons?
There could easily have been a serious breach of national security. Nothing is inconceivable in an era of high-tech crime. A typical plane is now equipped with high-end technical equipment and communications gadgetry.
Has MAHB searched and secured the planes since they were abandoned? Were the police informed? Is there a standard operating procedure to inspect, investigate and impound such abandoned planes on the basis of national security?
Nothing should be taken for granted. We should make it nigh on impossible for planes of any type to be simply ditched in our own backyard, no matter who the owners are or what insignias are emblazoned on these aircraft.
National security should supersede everything. The aircraft should be seized by the government unconditionally as soon as their owners go missing-in-action or beyond reach for no more than one month. No questions asked.
When found, the owners should also face strict legal action and heavy fines. They may have legitimate reasons, however, unlikely in an era of mobile phones and instant messaging, for abandoning their planes and going incommunicado.
But hey, finders keepers, right?
GRRRRR!!!
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