Jump to content
MalaysianWings - Malaysia's Premier Aviation Portal

Seng Lim

Gold Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content Count

    654

  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by Seng Lim

  1. Posted · Report reply

    There is a local bus company in Ipoh called 'Yoyo' which provide scheduled bus service between Ipoh and KLIA.

     

    Those who fly between IPH-KUL in the past with MAS majority are international flights connecting passagers. Based on my experiences in the past flying this route the load are pretty full most of time, but of course the flying distance is the reason why airline cannot make money on this route due to the 'regulated domestic fares'.

  2. Posted · Report reply

    Really impressive especially their new Y seat :

    In a world first for Economy Class travel, our new seat creates a fixed living space that no longer interrupts the space behind when you recline.

    I'm sure this will be the new standard for economy class seat across the airline industry (especially the long haul flights)

  6. Posted · Report reply

    MAS: Zurich, Rome, LA routes to stay

     

    By B.K. SIDHU

     

    PETALING JAYA: Malaysia Airlines (MAS) will keep its Zurich, Rome and Los Angeles routes despite an earlier plan to do away with these unprofitable routes.

     

    In fact, the airline plans to increase flights to Los Angeles and even Paris as part of its network rationalisation scheme. But it has yet to decide whether to keep its Kuala Lumpur-Stockholm-New York route that currently suffers from low load factor.

     

    “We can improve on the Los Angeles route,’’ managing director Idris Jala said when releasing MAS' results yesterday.

     

    Network rationalisation is the next big thing on Jala’s plate as he struggles to bring the airline back to profitability. The airline’s losses are narrowing after Jala focused on improving yields, cutting cost, selling assets and reducing the workforce. He had to make some tough decisions in the way the airline should be operated and managed, and even managed to cut a good deal in the domestic air services rationalisation plan.

     

    While Jala said “the improvements we put in place at the airline are beginning to bear fruit,’’ rising jet fuel prices remain a major concern for airlines.

     

    Despite the improvements at MAS, profits are not going to come overnight. On the other hand, if nothing is done, MAS would be reporting a RM1.7bil net loss this year. Now that a RM50mil net profit is predicted for next year, even analysts are betting on Jala being able to beat that.

     

    As part of the network rationalisation plan, MAS has signed code share agreements with several airlines and the issue of low load factor will gradually diminish. The recent deal with Virgin Blue is a major development between a full service carrier and a low-cost carrier and allows for interlining.

     

    The move is a clever one, given that MAS has high load factors for its Australian flights. It also currently carries passengers for KLM into Australia and an interlining arrangement with Virgin Blue bodes well for MAS.

     

    Jala said “a few more partnerships are in the pipeline.’’ He is looking at a similar arrangement with Italy’s Alitalia to ferry travellers into parts of Italy and vice versa. That is part of the hub and spoke concept that Jala has for the European sector.

     

    Jala also wants to expand the partnership into China, India and South Africa. MAS was likely to partner South African Airways for the African connection and China Southern for the China connectivity, sources said.

     

    As for India, the ideal partner appears to be Jet Airways, a promising airline. But present regulations in India do not permit such an arrangement.

     

    The network rationalisation plan would also see MAS focusing more on the region but with strategic tie-ups with airlines in Africa, India, Middle East, China, American and Europe so that it is able to provide wide connectivity with a code share or partnership.

     

    On domestic operations, Jala said MAS offered one of the lowest fares in the world despite the average 15% rise in domestic airfares.

  7. Posted · Report reply

    PETALING JAYA, Aug 29 (Bernama) -- Malaysia Airlines (MAS) expects to sell over RM25 million worth of tickets during the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA) Fair 2006, its commercial director Datuk Rashid Khan said Tuesday.

     

    The three-day event will be held from Sept 22 to Sept 24 at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur.

     

    Speaking at a press conference on MATTA Fair 2006 here, Rashid said the national carrier registered sales of about RM25 million at the same event held in March this year.

     

    MAS would make available one million seats for next month's MATTA Fair 2006, Rashid said.

     

    "We are in the midst of finalising the fare structures and packages. We will be having early bird specials and up to 60 percent discount," he said when asked about the special packages to be offered.

     

    MATTA Fair's organising chairman Datuk Mohd Khalid Harun said the coming event is expected to attract about 80,000 visitors compared to 75,000 visitors in March 2006.

     

    He said the sales turnover is also expected to exceed the RM85 million achieved at the previous fair.

     

    Mohd Khalid said MATTA and MAS will be working together to ensure that Malaysian consumers get the best value for money deals during the event.

     

    -- BERNAMA

  10. Posted · Report reply

    Apparently the plane took off from wrong runway!

     

    EXINGTON, Kentucky (CNN) -- A Comair commuter jet took off from a short runway used by private aircraft rather than a longer one typically used by commercial jets before it crashed Sunday morning, a National Transportation Safety Board official said.

     

    Comair Flight 5191 crashed about half a mile past the end of the runway shortly after takeoff Sunday morning, killing 49 of the 50 people on board. The sole survivor, first officer James Polehinke, was in critical condition at a Lexington hospital.

     

    The Delta commuter flight had been cleared to take off from the 7,000-foot Runway 22 at Lexington's Blue Grass Airport, sources told CNN earlier Sunday. Instead, evidence at the scene indicates the plane took off from Runway 26, which is about half as long, NTSB member Debbie Hersman told reporters Sunday evening.

     

    "We're still working on determining what was going on in the cockpit, what information was discussed between air traffic controllers and the pilots," Hersman said. "That's part of our investigation, and we hope to have more information about that later."

     

    Hersman would not discuss how or why the plane ended up on the shorter runway. Nor would she say whether the Canadian-built Bombardier CRJ-100 would have been able to successfully take off from a 3,500-foot runway. (Watch results of early NTSB review -- 3:27)

     

    But former NTSB Vice Chairman Bob Francis told CNN that the twin-engine jet would have needed about 5,000 feet of runway for a successful takeoff.

     

    Hersman said investigators are combing through 32 minutes of cockpit voice recordings and "several hundred" readings from the plane's flight data recorder as they search for the cause of the crash.

     

    The plane was carrying 47 passengers and three crew members. One of the passengers was an off-duty crew member sitting in the plane's jump seat, Blue Grass Airport Director Michael Gobb said. (Honeymooners among victims)

    Officer burned during rescue

     

    Flight 5191 was en route to Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Georgia, where it was scheduled to land at 7:18 a.m. ET.

     

    Fayette County Coroner Gary Ginn said he believes most people died from fire-related causes "rather than smoke inhalation."

     

    First responders extricated Polehinke, according to Blue Grass Airport's Chief of Public Safety Scott Lanter.

     

    They "observed movement at the front of the aircraft, and then extricated the first officer from the nose of the airplane," Lanter said.

     

    Lexington Police Officer Bryan Jared and two airport officers, John Sallee and James "Pete" Maupin, pulled the first officer from the plane, with Jared burning both of his arms during the rescue, Gobb told The Associated Press.

     

    Flight 5191 was cleared for takeoff at 6:05 a.m. ET, which was the last communication between the pilot and air-traffic controllers at the airport, Federal Aviation Administration officials said.

     

    County Coroner Ginn said much of the aircraft remained intact, despite a heavy fire that "traveled with the plane." The airport's fire department "got there very fast ... and because of that, we're able to keep a lot of the plane intact," he said.

     

    The coroner's office has set up a temporary morgue in Frankfort -- about 30 miles west of Lexington -- "in order to expedite the autopsies," Ginn said.

     

    He said he is asking family members for dental records to help make identifications.

     

    Bornhorst told reporters in Kentucky that his priority was "to assuage the grief of all of the family and friends of the passengers who have been impacted by this great tragedy."

     

    "That will be job No. 1 for us, but a very close second job is also to assist and to cooperate with the investigation from the NTSB and from the FAA," he said. (Watch Bornhorst detail the facts of the crash -- 7:30)

     

    Comair purchased the CRJ-100 from Bombardier in January 2001 and said its maintenance was up-to-date.

     

    That type of plane has a good track record, according to the NTSB Web site.

     

    Bornhorst said the flight crew had been "on a legal rest period far beyond what is required," but the specifics of the crew's schedule will be part of the NTSB investigation.

     

    The pilot, Capt. Jeffrey Clay, began work with Comair in 1999 and was promoted two years ago to captain, Bornhorst said.

     

    Polehinke has worked for Comair since 2002, and Kelly Heyer, a male flight attendant, had been employed with the carrier since 2004, he said.

     

    The plane went down before sunrise, scaring residents who initially thought it was bad weather.

     

    "I really thought it was a big clap of thunder, so didn't think much about it until I heard all the sirens," one man said.

     

    Another man described what he saw from his back door.

     

    "Over the hillside, I saw a flash of light and then an explosion, and then just a big plume of smoke come up," he said.

     

    Sunday's crash is the deadliest U.S. airline crash since November 2001, when American Airlines Flight 587 crashed into a Queens, New York, neighborhood less than two minutes after the Airbus A300 left the runway at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

     

    All 260 on board Flight 587 were killed, along with five people on the ground, making it the second-deadliest air crash in U.S. history.

  11. Posted · Report reply

    Latest update from Indiatimes:

     

    AMSTERDAM/MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: An edgy Dutch security apparatus, after creating the impression of a foiled terror plot when it arrested 12 Indian on Wednesday following the return of a Northwest Airlines flight to Amsterdam, late on Thursday night brought the curtains down on the high-voltage drama by releasing all of them.

     

    The 12 held were all Muslims, most of them Bohras from Mumbai. Their irrational exuberance during takeoff — when they reportedly talked on mobile phones and exchanged them around — seems to have aroused the suspicion of the air marshals.

    The moral of the story: there is currently zero tolerance for any out-of-line behaviour in the air. Questions are also being raised about security profiling on the basis of race and religion.

     

    It appears the alarm was triggerred also by the fact that some among the detained dozen sported beards, wore salwar-kameez and spoke in Urdu.

     

    In days to come, this high-profile episode is certain to generate a debate on questionable biases in terror-combat operations.

     

    Earlier on Thursday in Amsterdam, a spokeswoman for the national anti-terrorism office, speaking for Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner, said, "So far there are no signs this was a terrorist threat".

     

    In New Delhi, minister of state for external affairs Anand Sharma told reporters that "the information we received says that they have been arrested for flight disruption and not terrorist acts".

     

    From their names, a number of the 12 detained seem to be Bohra Muslims of Mumbai.

  12. Posted · Report reply

    Air traffic control intercepts detail F-16 escort of Northwest Amsterdam turn-back flight

     

    Audio Link is here : http://fmc.dotnet-services.nl/waves/nw42_i...ept20060823.wav

     

    Full article from FlightGlobal is here:

    Audio: Air traffic control intercepts detail F-16 escort of Northwest Amsterdam turn-back flight

    By Justin Wastnage

    Amateur radio scanners in the Netherlands have released audio intercepts of the air traffic control conversations during the Northwest Airlines incident yesterday, during which an on-board alert forced a Boeing DC-10 to return to Amsterdam Schiphol airport escorted by two Royal Netherlands air force fighters.

     

    Northwest flight 42 had taken off from Schiphol at 10:25 bound for Mumbai on the second leg of a flight from Minneapolis St Paul when the pilot requested a return to the KLM hub. The aircraft had reached the German border before turning back at around 11:00 and requesting a security escort as the behaviour of passengers was considered suspect.

     

    The audio files, captured by ham radio enthusiasts at the Frequency Monitor Centre, detail much of the air traffic control over the period of the incident. From 11:10 onwards Northwest 42 dumped fuel over the IJsselmeer region and by 11:19 it had been intercepted by two Lockheed Martin F-16s from Leeuwarden air base, which had on excercise in the area.

     

    Twelve men were arrested once the aircraft touched down. Amsterdam police says it cannot disclose the nationalities or the nature of the allegations against them. It has been reported that the passengers had been trying to use mobile telephones, passing them among themselves, while the aircraft was taking off.

  13. Posted · Report reply

    Latest update from bloomberg.

     

    Dutch Police Detain 12 Passengers From Northwest Jet (Update3)

     

    By Fred Pals

     

    Aug. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Dutch police detained 12 Northwest Airlines Corp. passengers at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport after their plane was escorted back to the city by military jets because of concern that some of the travelers posed a threat.

     

    Authorities haven't ruled out terrorism in the incident, airport police commander Vincent Egbers said in an interview today. The police called the incident ``serious'' and have received permission to hold the passengers in custody for three days, he said. The case remains under investigation, he said, declining to comment further.

     

    The suspicious activity involved cellular phones being passed around by some passengers and eventually being given to one person, a U.S. Homeland Security Department official in Washington said in an interview. He asked not to be identified because the investigation is in its early stages.

     

    The pilot asked to return to Amsterdam, Egbers said. Northwest said 149 passengers and 10 crew members were on the flight, which was headed to Mumbai. The aircraft, a Boeing Co. DC-10, was in German airspace when the pilot made his request, said Marjolein Wenting, a spokeswoman for Dutch air-traffic control.

     

    Two F-16 fighters then intercepted it in Dutch airspace, said Wendy Eelsing of the Dutch Ministry of Defense.

     

    `Normal Procedure'

     

    ``When there's a problem with an airplane, it's normal procedure that air-traffic control asks the air force to go airborne with fighter planes,'' Eelsing said. She declined to comment on what had happened on board.

     

    Kurt Ebenhoch, a Northwest spokesman, declined to comment on reports that 12 passengers were arrested and referred calls to law-enforcement officials. Northwest, based in Eagan, Minnesota, is the fifth-largest U.S. airline.

     

    Northwest said in a statement that its Flight 42 to Mumbai was canceled for today and will resume tomorrow.

     

    The flight left Minneapolis at 3:19 p.m. yesterday, landing in Amsterdam at 6:20 a.m. today and taking off at 10:25 a.m. for Mumbai, according to Northwest's Web site.

     

    ``We are working with local authorities to assist in any way we can,'' said U.S. Transportation Security Administration spokesman Darrin Kayser.

     

    No Change in Terror Level

     

    Wim Kok, a spokesman for the anti-terrorism group of the Dutch Interior Affairs Department, earlier today said there was no need to raise the country's current terror threat level, which is at ``substantial.'' That's one step below the highest level, which is ``critical.''

     

    Several other aircraft in Europe and the U.S. have made emergency landings since U.K. authorities said Aug. 10 that they had foiled a plot to blow up planes between the U.K. and the U.S.

     

    A United Airlines flight from London to Washington was diverted to Boston on Aug. 17 after a 59-year-old woman allegedly made comments that were interpreted as meaning there might be a bomb on the aircraft. A British Airways Plc flight heading for New York returned to London's Heathrow airport on Aug. 13 after a cellular telephone was found onboard and wasn't claimed by any of the passengers.

     

    The U.K. government undertook unprecedented security measures as the Aug. 10 raids were under way. Hand luggage and electronic items were banned for six days and passengers were allowed onto planes with only clear plastic bags holding travel documents, wallets, essential medicines and baby foods. Travelers now are permitted to take only smaller bags on board with no items containing liquids or gels.

     

    The U.S. also banned liquids from carry-on bags for flights to and from the country.

     

    Most European countries haven't implemented extra security for flights except those to U.K. or U.S. destinations.

     

    To contact the reporter on this story: Fred Pals in Amsterdam at fpals@bloomberg.net

    Last Updated: August 23, 2006 18:12 EDT

  14. Posted · Report reply

    The interesting part on this news is the definition of delays between MAS & AK:

     

    Defition of Delay for MAS = exceed 15 minutes of the original scheduled (International Standard)

     

    Defition of Delay for AK = exceed 30 minutes of the original scheduled (AK Standard)

    Thus AK has been told by Govt. to follow the international 15 minutes standard as their current 88% on time performance is based on 30 minutes which is not a good standard.

     

     

    PUTRAJAYA, Aug 23 (Bernama) -- The government has ordered national carrier Malaysia Airlines (MAS) and budget airline AirAsia to take immediate measures to cut flight delays that had occurred frequently over the last three months.

     

    Transport Minister Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy said the ministry would also monitor closely the two airlines in the next one or two months to ensure that there was improvement.

     

    The ministry had received many complaints of flight delays from all over the country and the airlines had cited technical problems, the weather, air traffic control and passengers arriving late or not showing up as the reasons, he told reporters after chairing a post-Cabinet meeting at the ministry, here.

     

    "Of course, there are many reasons but the ministry has informed MAS and AirAsia that they have to find ways and means to improve their performance. I want to see less delays all over the country. We are very unhappy with the two airlines," he said.

     

    Chan said that going by the international standard, a delay occurred when a flight exceeded its schedule by 15 minutes, adding that MAS had registered 87 per cent "on time" flights, meaning that the airline had 13 per cent delays.

     

    He said he was informed by AirAsia that its definition of a delay was exceeding the schedule by 30 minutes.

     

    "I am asking now for 15 minutes because that is the international standard. If you go by 30 minutes, AirAsia has 88.03 per cent `on time' flights, meaning the airline has 11.93 per cent delays. But that is 30 minutes. I want 15 minutes. If it goes by 15 minutes, I think the figure would be higher on delays," he said.

     

    Chan said reasons of weather and technical problems that posed a threat to safety were acceptable but matters within control such as air traffic control and passengers arriving late had to be overcome immediately.

     

    "Of course, I have been told that going by the international standard, these figures are good but I am not happy anyway," he said, adding that 87 per cent "on time" flights for domestic and Southeast Asian operations was high and good performance.

     

    "But to me and to the government, I think they can do better. So, we want them to do better. We will monitor them very closely in the next one or two months," he said.

     

    Chan also said that after the rationalisation of the domestic routes on Aug 1, the ministry was monitoring closely all the complaints that have been submitted to it.

     

    "We are monitoring very closely all the problems faced by the passengers, including the business community, and especially those from Sabah and Sarawak where there has been a reduction in flight frequencies on certain routes.

     

    "We also got a lot of appeals from elected representatives from Sabah and Sarawak over the reduction in flight frequencies, which has caused a lot of inconvenience for people in several stations, particularly Labuan, Miri, Sandakan, Tawau, Lahad Datu and Kota Kinabalu," he said.

     

    Chan said the ministry would call a meeting in one or two days to look into all the information that it has gathered on the ground and the complaints that have been submitted to it to ensure improvement.

  16. Posted · Report reply

    This is the official press release from MAS website.

    Summary:

    Business Class = 2 fares segment.

    Economy = 5 fares segment for phone booking & travel agents.

    = 7 fares segment for online booking (lower starting price!) + admin fee waived!

     

     

    21 Aug, 2006

    MALAYSIA AIRLINES OFFERS FLEXIBLE DOMESTIC TRAVEL FARES More lower airfares despite increase in full fares and fuel surcharges

     

    Malaysia Airlines today implemented a new “micro-segmentised” fare system for its rationalised domestic network covering 23 routes.

     

    This initiative, in line with the ‘Flying to Win Customers’ thrust of the national carrier’s Business Turnaround Plan, will see the introduction of 2 business class and 5 economy class segments one-way fares offered through both Malaysia Airlines offices (Call Centre and ticketing) and travel agents. These fares and another two-tier economy class segment one-way fares are also offered online at www.malaysiaairlines.com.

     

    In addition to price flexibility, each fare segment has its own set of rules and regulations covering aspects like ticketing deadlines, refunds, cancellations, no-shows, advance purchase eligibilities and fare restrictions.

     

    The revised fares thus allow travellers the freedom to combine different one-way fares to plan their air travel for both outbound and inbound flights, whilst enjoying a truly Malaysian hospitality at every point of engagement with the national carrier. With this new fare structure, customers can actually get to enjoy airfares lesser than rates charged previously.

     

    Mr Idris Jala, Managing Director/CEO of Malaysia Airlines,

    said “Although the full fares for the economy and business class travel have been raised to a weighted average of 15% and 30% respectively from the previous levels, our customers will continue to enjoy one of the lowest domestic airfares in the world. Research shows that Malaysia comes second to Thailand in terms of average domestic fares. It costs RM 0.63 per mile in Thailand and RM 0.71 in Malaysia while it is the highest in Japan at RM 43.41 per mile”

     

    “When we reviewed our domestic fares, we took into consideration that the travelling public want more affordable choices. We went through cost-cutting measures that positively affect both our Business Turnaround Plan and our fares. In particular, we remain committed to the government’s national integration initiatives and we are now offering trans-Malaysian fares that start from levels lower than the rates prevailing before 21 August 2006”.

     

    “In addition to the fares offered through traditional distribution channels, we have also introduced exclusive fares through our website. We save distribution costs and lower our labour cost through this channel and the consumer thus benefits from the best prices online. For the period 1 September 2006 to 31 July 2007 we are offering 1,000, 000 domestic seats online at these attractive rates,” he added.

     

    Malaysia Airlines will continue to offer existing discounts on the normal economy class fares for senior citizens, members of parliament, blind and disabled, students, media, security forces, corporate travel and family travel.

     

    Apart from these discounts, Malaysia Airlines has ceased offering its previous fares and all other discounts. However, during the implementation of the ‘micro-segmentised’ fare system effective today, Malaysia Airlines will continue to honour all transactions paid at the previous fares.

     

    Likewise bookings done prior to 21 August 2006 will still be honoured at the previous fares, provided ticketed by the deadline given or 11 September 2006, whichever is earlier.

     

    To ensure transparency of transactions, all fares offered effective immediately will be reflected on the tickets or transaction slips for customers, in line with the airline’s recent cut over to nett fares display on tickets.

     

    Malaysia Airlines’ revised one-way economy class online fares start from as low as RM 59 for travel within East Malaysia, RM 69 for travel within Peninsula Malaysia and RM 99 for travel between Peninsula and East Malaysia. The airline’s administration fee is waived for online bookings.

     

    Economy class one-way fares transacted through Malaysia Airlines’ 24-hour Call Centre and traditional distribution channels start from RM 79 for travel within East Malaysia, RM 89 for travel within Peninsular Malaysia and RM 149 for travel between Peninsular and East Malaysia.

     

    For more information, customers can contact Malaysia Airlines 24-hour call centre, 1300 88 3000.

     

    Issued by: Media Relations, Corporate Communications Malaysia Airlines, Kuala Lumpur

     

    For more information on this release, media members may contact:

    Anbarasu.S

    Tel : 03 7840 3884

    Mobile : 019 2224952

    Email: arasu@mas.com.my

  17. Posted · Report reply

    Latest News update:

     

    Discounts for one million MAS domestic tickets

     

    News Update by M.KRISHNAMOORTHY of The Star

     

    KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Airlines is offering up to 60% discount for one million domestic flight tickets via online booking.

     

    The online bookings for attractive rates starts from next month to July 31, next year.

     

    Its managing director Idris Jala said the new fare structure was on a one-way basis, adding that the discounts were between 10% and 60%.

     

    Malaysia Airlines’ revised one-way economy class online fares starting from as low as RM59 for travel within East Malaysia, RM69 for travel within Peninsula Malaysia and RM99 for travel between Peninsula and East Malaysia.

  18. Posted · Report reply

    Passengers refuse to fly unless Muslims disembark

     

    1.00pm Monday August 21, 2006

    By Arifa Akbar

     

    Muslim leaders yesterday spoke of their dismay after a passenger mutiny in which several British families refused to travel on a plane with two Asian men.

     

    The two men were forced to leave the flight bound for Manchester after fellow passengers wrongly suspected them of being terrorists.

     

    Several people on board flight ZB613 from Malaga to Manchester became alarmed by the men's presence and demanded that airline staff remove them from the plane.

     

    Cabin crew informed Spanish authorities of the passengers' fears and the men were ordered off the Monarch Airlines flight and questioned by police for several hours.

     

    They were eventually cleared and put on an alternative flight to Manchester.

     

    Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, Secretary-General of the Muslim Council of Britain, said the incident, which follows a security alert over an alleged bomb plot at Heathrow two weeks ago, demonstrated the "the high level of suspicion that ordinary Muslims are often being unfairly subjected to".

     

    He added: "They [Muslims] are increasingly being treated as though they are guilty of plotting terrorist acts unless proved innocent, rather than vice versa."

     

    Similar incidents in which people of Asian or Middle Eastern appearances have been targeted by fellow passengers have been reported on pilots' and cabin crew's websites, including one in which two British women with young children on a flight from Spain apparently complained about a bearded Muslim even though he had been security checked twice before boarding the plane.

     

    Mr Bari said he hoped it would not lead to a growing culture of targeting Muslims.

     

    "While it is of course sensible for all of us to be vigilant, it is not sensible to pick on Muslims simply because they happen to dress differently or appear to be speaking to each other in Arabic," he said.

     

    The plane bound from Malaga, which had 150 passengers on board, had been due to take off at around 3.00am BST, last Wednesday, but was delayed by around three hours after three families refused to enter the Airbus 320 aircraft unless the men were removed, and a further two families with children left the plane in protest.

     

    Heath Schofield, an industrial chemical salesman from Cheshire, who was travelling on the plane with his wife and two daughters, Emily, 15, and Isobel, 12, said that some passengers had become alarmed by how the men appeared.

     

    "We were coming back to Britain with a load of people in flipflops and shorts but the two men were wearing jumpers and leather jackets," he said.

     

    His wife, Jo Schofield, a college lecturer, said there was a "pin-drop's silence" when the two men entered the cabin, and that they were eventually led off by police, with their heads bowed, as people watched in silence.

     

    She said suspicion was first aroused after another passenger claimed to have heard them speaking in Arabic, and believed they had said something alarming.

     

    Mrs Schofield she was "frightened" by how quickly people's attitudes had changed and was worried for the future.

     

    "For years, we have put a lot of time and effort as a society in to making Britain culturally diverse and politically correct with equal opportunities and now, people are changing their opinions.

     

    "The general consensus was quite negative attitudes about Asian and Middle Eastern people. I didn't hear one person say that they would give these men the benefit of the doubt.

     

    "People are becoming frightened and are judging and labelling people. Also, terrorists need to be aware that they are taking people of their own culture with the same brush," she said.

     

    Muslim leaders in Manchester were outraged over the incident.

     

    Councillor Afzal Khan, from Cheetham, who has formerly served as city's lord mayor, said he was "disappointed" by the airline's decision to eject the men from the flight.

     

    "I think these men, like other passengers, went through the strict measures that are operating now and for them (the airline) to allow other members of the public to dictate what happens is rule of the mob," he said.

     

    But a spokesman for Monarch Airline defended their decision to remove the men.

     

    "There were two passengers on the flight who came to the attention of the other people because they were apparently acting suspiciously.

     

    "The Captain was concerned about the security surrounding the two gentlemen on the aircraft and the decision was taken to remove them from the flight for further security checks. The passengers were off-loaded from the flight."

     

    - INDEPENDENT

  24. Posted · Report reply

    Poor Ipoh folks now have no choice but to fly AK to JHB, and since already nearby, take SQ to international destinations ;)

     

    Ipoh folk can still take the direct express bus service (Yoyo) to go to KLIA.

    There are a lot of chinese from Ipoh who are working in Singapore, thus AK saw this as an opportunities.

    (Express coach between Ipoh to Singapore is 7 hours journey).

     

     

×
×
  • Create New...