Swift Air Cargo says it has not abandoned three Boeing 747 Freighters at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), expressing its shock at the press coverage.
The Kuala Lumpur based carrier says it is the owner and it has the documents to prove it has not abandoned them. Swift says it has had meetings with KLIA’s operator, Malaysia Airports as recently as 12 October 2015, so cannot understand how their aircraft were reported missing. The carrier says it took ownership of the aircraft on 8 June this year.
On its website, Swift says: “The owner of the (3) B747s parked at KLIA is Swift Air Cargo and Swift has not abandoned the aircraft!”
“Swift is understandably very concerned when MAHB [Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad) declares to the world that ‘exhaustive steps’ were taken to find a contact person, yet Swift has been meeting with MAHB on a consistent basis.”
Swift says it had its first meeting with MAHB on 17 June, followed by many more where it supplied documentation as requested. It says the last meeting was on 12 October and says Swift and MAHB had been trying to arrange another meeting to present more documentation and information before the announcement was made to the world’s media.
Malaysia Airports took adverts out in Malaysian newspapers, The Star, and Sin Chew Daily, on Monday 7 December, saying the aircraft had been abandoned and asking the owner to reclaim them before they were disposed of.
The airline says: “Based on this evidence, Swift is unable to fathom the reason for MAHB’s declaration that it has taken ‘exhaustive steps’ without being able to find a ‘contact person’ when all along, Swift was fulfilling its obligations.”
On its website, Swift says it is currently called Splunk n’ Dash, but will officially be called Swift Air Cargo when approved by Malaysian authorities. It says Swift has been in development for 10 years and “will be flying shortly” from the Far East to as far away as Africa and South America.
It says: “By starting out small and growing organically, Swift will be able to open new markets and develop a strong niche for its services.”
