MAS CLEARS BACKLOG OF MORE THAN 3,200 STRANDED PASSENGERS

SEPANG (Malaysia), April 26 (Bernama) -- Malaysia Airlines (MAS) has cleared
a backlog of more than 3,200 stranded passengers with 12 additional flights.

The last extra flight to London departed Monday at 2.10pm.

MAS managing director and chief executive officer Tengku Azmil
Zahruddin said the extra flights were mounted from Kuala Lumpur to European
countries to clear the passenger backlog caused by the Iceland volcanic ash
clouds since reopening of the European airspace on Wednesday.

Todate, more than 3,200 passengers, who were stranded mostly in Kuala
Lumpur,
have been sent home or to their intended destinations using its jumbo
jets, Boeing 747 and Boeing 777.

"From the 12 extra flights, four were mounted to London, four to Amsterdam,
two to Paris, one to Frankfurt and one to Rome. The last additional flight to
London is scheduled to depart at 2.10pm today," he told reporters at the Kuala
Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) here Monday.

Tengku Azmil said besides the extra flights, MAS has also resumed normal
flights to European countries since reopening of the airspace, which totalled 31
flights todate.

He said most of the airlines' stranded passengers have been cleared by the
43
flights but the situation would be reassessed to see if there was a need to
mount any more extra flights.

Tengku Azmil said passenger travel was prioritised on a first-in-first-out
basis and on special needs like medical, elderly, those with infants and young
children and students with exams, a special team was set up to look into seat
allocations.

He said the airline also provided accommodation to passengers while meals,
beverages, blankets, pillows and toiletries were made available at the
airport and ticket offices.

During the closure of the European airspace from April 15 to 20, MAS had
cancelled 24 flights out of Kuala Lumpur, affecting some 7,000 passengers.


In total, 48 MAS flights were cancelled affecting 14,000 passengers flying
to Europe and other destinations worldwide.

Tengku Azmil said eventhough 68 pilots and 264 cabin crew were redeployed
for the extra flights, with most of the flights returning empty, the extra
flights were flown so that the passengers could fly to their intended
destinations as soon as possible.

Total loss suffered by MAS has yet to be ascertained, he added.

-- BERNAMA



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