UNION WANTS MAS TO DEMAND US$4.57 MILLION FROM EU

KUALA LUMPUR, May 20 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian Airlines System Employees
Union (Maseu) has urged Malaysia Airlines (MAS) to demand RM15 million (US$4.57
million) compensation from the European Union (EU) over the first wave of
Iceland volcanic ash cloud which disrupted hundreds of thousands of passengers.

In a statement Thursday, Maseu said the EU should be held accountable for
not being prepared in facing issues of climate change due to the volcanic ash
cloud last month.

Its executive secretary, Mustafar Maarof, said that priority should be given
in tackling climate change and the effects on global economy.

"EU should first put on an economic framework on the impact of climate
change, but they failed to do that," he said.

MAS announced on Monday that it incurred RM15 million losses, such as paying
aircraft holding cost at airports, hotels, loss of sales and clearing the
backlog of passengers due to the disaster last month.

-- BERNAMA