Malaysia Airports is pleased to provide more clarification with regards to the three abandoned aircraft at KL International Airport (KLIA) in view of the intense public interest in the matter.
As part of the debt recovery process, Malaysia Airports had issued an advertisement on 7 December 2015 in two local newspapers to serve as notice to the owners of the three cargo aircraft.
These three aircraft had been parked in KLIA since mid-2010 by Air Atlanta Icelandic – an aircraft leasing company who were the then owners of the said aircraft. Air Atlanta Icelandic subsequently de-registered these aircraft and dissolved responsibility over them when the ownership of the aircraft was transferred to Shaanxi Sunshine Cargo – a company based in China.
Since then, the aircraft had not been registered under any company. Among others, registration of any aircraft requires the issuance of an Aircraft Operating Certificate (AOC) by a country’s civil aviation authority.
Malaysia Airports had been in communication with Shaanxi Sunshine Cargo for the purpose of the settlement of parking charges and the subsequent relocation of the aircraft until September 2013.
There had been no further communication from this date forward and subsequent checks had shown that Shaanxi Sunshine Cargo had ceased operations.
According to Tuan Haji Zainol Mohd Isa, General Manager of Malaysia Airports (Sepang) Sdn. Bhd., “As a responsible airport operator, Malaysia Airports undertakes to verify all claims of aircraft ownership with the relevant authorities. Thus far, we have not been able to do so to our satisfaction. As such, we urge the rightful owner to furnish us with the required information for verification purposes.”
Malaysia Airports wishes to assure the public that our actions are in accordance to legal procedures and any future action will be handled privately with the rightful owner.