MOT May Take Action Against MAHB After Latest KLIA Aerotrain Glitch

The Transport Ministry is weighing possible action against Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) following a string of aerotrain disruptions at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) that have inconvenienced passengers.

Transport Minister Anthony Loke said MAHB could also face internal penalties on its contractor since the project is still within its two-year liability period.

"MAHB must ensure service disruptions are eliminated entirely, if possible. Whatever happens, MAHB will impose penalties on the contractor, as the project is still within the two-year liability period. Any service disruptions or failure to meet performance standards will result in fines imposed by MAHB on the contractor.

"As for government action, the Land Public Transport Agency (Apad), as the regulator of all train systems, also has the authority to take action against MAHB. I will discuss this matter further at the Transport Ministry level," he told the Dewan Rakyat today.

Loke reminded that even though MAHB is a government-linked company, it still falls under the ministry’s licensing rules, meaning enforcement or fines could still be imposed if passenger service continues to fall short.

"In the past three months alone, the aerotrain had transported about five million passengers with a 99.2% normal operating rate. But that hasn’t stopped public frustration after multiple disruptions in just a few months," he noted.

On Monday, Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Hasbi Habibollah said the KLIA Terminal 1 aerotrain had recorded 19 incidents between July and September ranging from technical faults to human error, including passengers forcing open the doors.

The latest hiccup happened Wednesday night, when both aerotrains at Terminal 1 suffered a temporary power trip around 8.30pm.

The latest outage comes not long after the aerotrain had finally returned to service following months of maintenance and system upgrades, only to face yet another embarrassing stumble.