3 abandoned jets clutter large airport
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Boeing 747-200F planes with the registration numbers TF-ARM, left, and TF-ARN, right, are seen parked at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang on Tuesday. Still puzzled by the mystery of missing flight MH370, Malaysian airport authorities now have the opposite problem: three Boeing 747 planes left unclaimed at the country's main airport. Mohd Rasfan / Agence France-Presse |
Attention owners of three jumbo jets parked at Malaysia's largest airport: Please remove your aircraft immediately, or authorities will.
The country's airport operator took the unusual step of posting photos in two major newspapers of the three Boeing 747-200s that have been sitting idle for more than a year. The notice this week warns the owners that the airport has the right to sell or dispose of the planes unless they are collected within 14 days.
Kuala Lumpur International Airport General Manager Zainol Mohamad Isa said on Wednesday that such a notice is normal in a bid to recover debts owed to Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad, the airports' holding company, after exhaustive but futile efforts to locate the owners. They are believed to be foreign entities that possibly have ceased operations.
The planes both carry the registration prefix "TF", for Iceland. An Iceland-based air charter and cargo company, Air Atlanta Icelandic, was quoted by The Star newspaper as saying it operated the planes until 2010.
"We placed out the advertisements because we want to remove ambiguity over ownership of the planes," Zainol said. "We want the owners to step forward, and we want the planes to be out of our airport bay."
He said that such cases are not uncommon and happen in airports around the world.
If the planes are unclaimed, Malaysia Airports will likely sell the jets to recover debts for landing and parking fees, Zainol said, but declined to say how much money is being owed.
