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KUCHING AIRPORT RESUMES OPERATION AFTER SIX-HOUR CLOSURE(Bernama The Malaysian National News Agency Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) from BERNAMA, The Malaysian National News Agency KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 13 (Bernama) -- The Kuching International Airport re-opened for flight arrivals and departures at noon after a six-hour closure following the crash-landing of a cargo carrier early today Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB) general manager (corporate communications) Norliza Kamaruddin confirmed resumption of the airport's operations after the 5:52 am mishap Departures and arrivals of 16 Malaysia Airlines (MAS) and 14 AirAsia flights were delayed when the airport was temporarily closed after the Boeing B737-200 plane belonging to Gading Sari Aviation Services Sdn Bhd crash-landed and was stuck in the middle of the runway The aircraft operated as a mail courier for Pos Malaysia Bhd The airport was closed since 6 am to remove the plane from the runway The plane, with four people on board, crashed on the grass area, veering off about 1,000m between the runway and taxiway, MAHB said in a statement today Meanwhile, Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Douglas Uggah Embas said the two rear tyres of the aircraft came off upon crash-landing The engine compartment and the right wing of the aircraft were damaged due to the impact of the emergency landing "Fragments of the tyres, splinters of engine parts and the right wing were scattered on the runway, forcing the airport authorities to close the airport for clean-up work and to remove the aircraft from the runway," he told reporters after being briefed on the incident The plane, flown by an Indonesian pilot, only known as Capt Hartono, took off from the KL International Airport in Sepang at 4am, carrying letters and parcels of Pos Malaysia Bhd and newspapers "It was not carrying any dangerous cargo," he said Following the incident, about 2,000 MAS and AirAsia passengers were stranded at the airport He said the crash-landing did not damage the runway except for a few broken navigational lights by the runway side "Inspection reveals the runway is safe for flight arrivals and departures," he said The DCA is investigating the cause of the incident, he added Meanwhile, Pos Malaysia Berhad said in a statement issued tonight that almost all postal items on the flight had been unloaded from the aircraft except for a small number of Poslaju items destined for Sibu and Sarikei that were trapped in the aircraft's bulk hole as at 4 pm today Expressing its regret over the incident, said it "will recover the trapped items over this weekend and notify its customers accordingly" "Pos Malaysia will bring in a replacement aircraft to transport the items starting Jan 16 onwards while a back-up plan includes transporting Poslaju items from KL on other available chartered aircraft," the statement said Pos Malaysia also stated that mail customers in Sabah and Sarawak can expect a delay of one to two days in delivery time and the arrangement for the back-up plan, should the need arise, is expected to take a week However, outbound Poslaju and mail services from Sarawak will continue to operate as normal as the incident does not affect these services, it added Copyright 2007 Bernama Copyright 2007 Bernama - Malaysian National News Agency Source: Financial Times Information Limited - Asia Intelligence Wire. |