Emergency meeting called after KLIA baggage system breaks down

FMT:

Emergency meeting called after KLIA baggage system breaks down

Transport minister orders review of SOPs after disruption at Terminal 1 caused delays of between two and four hours on Saturday evening

Transport minister Loke Siew Fook said passengers arriving at KLIA deserve a standard of service reliability that Saturday’s incident ‘clearly failed to meet’. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: The transport ministry has called for an emergency meeting after a breakdown in the baggage handling system at KLIA Terminal 1 yesterday evening resulted in delays of up to four hours for arriving passengers.

Transport minister Loke Siew Fook said he has instructed the ministry’s secretary-general to convene the meeting on Monday with the relevant agencies.

“The meeting will undertake a thorough review of the existing SOPs governing breakdown management at our airports, with a specific focus on response time, passenger communication, and contingency protocols,” he said in a statement.


Loke said although the baggage handling system was restored the same evening, “a technical fix does not close the matter and the incident points to something that must be addressed at a deeper level”.

“Passengers who travel through our national gateway deserve a standard of service reliability that this incident has clearly failed to meet,” he said.

He also said the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) has been directed to launch an investigation into the matter and examine whether punitive action is warranted against Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) for this failure in service delivery.

“A national gateway cannot afford repeated lapses of this nature. MAHB, as the operator of KLIA, will be held accountable for this breakdown.

“We cannot realise our aspiration of being among the world’s best airports without first inculcating a genuine culture of accountability and responsibility across the organisation,” he said.

In a separate statement, CAAM said it exercised strict oversight of the baggage handling system recovery process, and would continue to engage with MAHB and the airlines to ensure full operational stabilisation and compliance with safety and service standards.

“MAHB is obligated to comply with the established Quality of Service standards, including timely and efficient baggage handling. In line with this, CAAM is enforcing compliance with these requirements and will take appropriate regulatory and enforcement actions in the event of any non-compliance,” it said.

It said MAHB is also required to implement corrective and preventive measures to avoid recurrence of the incident.