BATIK AIR DELAY DUE TO PILOTS EXCEEDING FLIGHT TIME LIMIT
Mr Loke also addressed the complaints by Batik Air passengers who were forced to spend the night at Kuala Lumpur International Airport last Thursday after their flight to Kuching, Sarawak was delayed.
Noting that he had been given a full report of the incident, Mr Loke said that the aircraft had been forced to divert to the island of Langkawi due to bad weather conditions.
“Once they landed in Langkawi, the pilots have passed their flying hours, so a new set of crew had to be flown in to Langkawi. Hence, this caused a few hours of delay for the flight,” he said in a video posted on the KiniTV YouTube page.
According to aviation magazine Flying, there are limits to the number of hours a pilot can fly, and that the minimum amount of rest between flights is a determining factor in how many hours a pilot will be able to fly an aircraft.
Mr Loke, however, said that this was not an excuse for the delay, but to highlight to the public the challenges faced by the airline industry.
“But we hope, in terms of communication with passengers, in terms of handling delayed flights, (the airlines) can be better (at it),” he said.
Batik Air Malaysia, was previously known as Malindo Air until April this year, has since expressed regret over the flight delay and has said it will contact all of the affected passengers to give them “special complimentary vouchers”.
At the AirAsia headquarters on Wednesday, Mr Loke advised the public to check with the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) on issues related to the refund policy of delayed flights, noting that the agency is the proper authority on such matters.
“I cannot handle every single complaint. So if there are any complaints, they can lodge (them) with Mavcom,” he told the media.
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