PETALING JAYA: Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong has questioned the frequent incidents of emergency landings and technical issues involving Malaysia Airlines.
"What has happened to Malaysia Airlines? Is it safe to fly?" Dr Wee asked in a Facebook on Friday (Aug 23).
Giving a chronology of the incidents, the Ayer Hitam MP said that since the beginning of 2023, Malaysia Airlines has encountered several incidents involving its flights.
"On Jan 9, 2023, a Malaysia Airlines Airbus A330 experienced a significant fuel system issue during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Melbourne.
"On April 3, 2023, a Malaysia Airlines flight was forced to return to Kuala Lumpur shortly after take-off due to technical issues.
"On Jul 10, 2023, a Malaysia Airlines flight bound for Kuching had to abort take-off at KL International Airport after experiencing technical issues," he said, adding that on Sept 14, 2023, a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 737-800 encountered a runway excursion during take-off at Melbourne Airport.
The MCA president also said that this year, on June 20, a flight bound for Kuala Lumpur made an emergency landing at Hyderabad Airport in India due to engine problems while on June 24, Flight MH780 from Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok was forced to return to KLIA due to pressurisation issues.
"On Aug 16, a flight from Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur had to make an emergency landing in Alice Springs due to engine troubles," he added.
Dr Wee said the latest incident happened two days ago on Aug 21 when MH386, bound for Shanghai from Kuala Lumpur, was forced to return to KLIA after experiencing a cabin pressure problem.
"The government and the Transport Ministry must immediately investigate and assist Malaysia Airlines to eliminate or prevent similar incidents from happening again," he added.
Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG) said on Friday (Aug 23) that a combination of factors, including weather, technical and manpower challenges, supply chain constraints and the ongoing normalisation of global aviation operations post-pandemic, has contributed to recent MAS operational difficulties.
MAG group managing director Datuk Capt Izham Ismail said they understood the significant inconvenience these disruptions have caused.
However, he assured customers that the airline had taken immediate steps to address the root causes of these issues.
