Malaysia Airlines Melbourne-KL flight lands in Alice Springs due to technical issue

PETALING JAYA: A technical issue forced a Kuala Lumpur-bound Malaysia Airlines flight from Melbourne to be diverted to Alice Springs Airport (ASP).

Malaysia Airlines said that flight MH128 safely landed at 4.35am local time on Monday (Aug 19) at the airport located in Australia’s Northern Territory, about 1,800km from its departure point.

“The airline is actively working to re-book passengers on new flights while also arranging accommodation and reimbursements for meal expenses where applicable.

“Malaysia Airlines regrets the inconvenience caused by baggage offloading delays. We are currently working with the airport handler to address equipment limitations for wide-body aircraft and expedite the process,” it said in a statement on Tuesday (Aug 20).

Earlier, Australian media SBS News reported that a passenger of the Airbus A330-300 aircraft said that they felt “a low vibration” before the captain announced that the engine “had stalled” and they would need to circle for two hours to burn fuel before landing at the airport.

A passenger took to Facebook to share his experience, claiming that he saw the aircraft’s engine on fire.

In the post, he said that another passenger called the flight attendant to report the situation before the captain made the announcement.

Just two weeks ago, the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) confirmed that Malaysia Airlines flight MH156, which was en route to Jeddah on Aug 4, turned back to Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) Terminal 1.

In June, flight MH199 from Hyderabad to Kuala Lumpur was forced to return to the Indian airport due to an issue with one of the aircraft’s engines while climbing after taking off.