CHIEF MINISTER Musa Aman's
initial reaction to the closure of KKIA on the night of 25th and 26th because
of lighting failure was one of consternation and great disappointment.
"This should not have
happened and the problem should not have taken so long to fix," he said.
Concerned that the closure
had inconvenienced thousands of travelers and may possibly have put Sabah's
image as a tourist destination in jeopardy he ordered a full report from the
Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad.
"The State Cabinet is
expecting a full report from MAB and on measures to be taken to ensure that
this doesn't happen again in the future," Chief Minister, Datuk Seri
Panglima Musa Haji Aman's said in a statement.
The report did not take long
in coming. According to a press release from MAHB sources, the first hint of
impending trouble came at 5.40pm Thursday 25th October 2012, on the eve of Hari
Raya Aidil Adha when a routine inspection found that the runway lights lit
dimly and were not up to the required brightness.
Shortly after, at 6.10pm,
air traffic controllers confirmed that the lights were indeed dim. As this would impair visibility and
compromise safe landing for incoming aircrafts, Malaysia Airports Holdings
Berhad (MAHB) took immediate action to close the runway for further
investigation. All airlines were immediately informed of this closure.
MAHB suspected that the dim
lights could have been due to electrical current leakages in the old cables
that they said were in the process of being replaced by their contractor.
According to MAHB press
release this is part of the overall upgrading of KKIA facilities, which include
the terminal, runway, taxiway and apron under the KKIA Redevelopment Project
undertaken by the government. MAHB further reported that efforts were made to
pinpoint the leakages in the 12 km cables in order to rectify the problem.
"This should not have
happened and the problem should not have taken so long to fix."
In the morning of Friday,
26th October 2012, rectification works had to be put on hold to allow for
flights to and from KKIA to resume daylight operations.
MAHB said the sub-contractor
was requested to immediately complete the installation of the new cables and
lightings. The installation works can only take place at night commencing at sunset around 6 p.m. when the runway,
again, had to be closed for safety reasons.
Meanwhile, portable lights
from various airports including Tentera Udara Diraja Malaysia (TUDM) were
rushed to Kota Kinabalu. These portable
lights were scheduled to arrive on flights prior to sunset to enable night
operations on 26th October 2012.
However, the arrival was
hampered by bad weather. The full compliment of portable lights only managed to
arrive at 8.00p.m. This was the reason why KKIA had to be closed for an
additional night from 6.00pm to 10.00pm.
However, as the
sub-contractor managed to install the new cables and runway lights, the portable lights were therefore not used
after all.
According to MAHB the runway
was declared safe for operations at 9.30pm on 26 October 2012 and was opened
for commercial night flight operations. MAHB further stated that with the
installation of the new cables and runway lightings and with the provision of
back-up runway circuit, the operations were
now running smoothly.
According to MAHB 51 flights
were diverted, delayed or cancelled during the two nights and 6000 passengers
were affected. (Insight Sabah)
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