Malaysian airport authorities are currently facing a very bizarre problem; three Boeing 747 airplanes have been abandoned at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA). KLIA is the country’s main airport and the authorities are trying to get to the current owners of the planes, however, that is turning into a nightmare since no one is able to figure out how these planes got there or who dropped them off. As a last resort, the operators of KLIA have placed an ad in the Malaysian newspaper, The Star, in order to get in touch with the 747-200F aircraft.
The ad states, “If you fail to collect the aircraft within 14 days of the date of this notice, we reserve the right to sell or otherwise dispose of the aircraft pursuant to the Civil Aviation Regulations 1996 and use the money raised to set off any expenses and debt due to us under the said regulations.”
Zainol Mohd Isa, the person whose contact details are provided in the advertisement is the general manager of Malaysia Airports and said that the airport has been trying to contact the owners, “We have been in communication with the so-called owner, but they have not been responding to take away the aircraft. That’s why we go through this process to legalize whatever actions we want to take. We want to clear the area, we want to utilize our parking bay.”
Malaysia Airports further stated in a statement that putting up an ad for lost-and-found in the paper was “a common process undertaken by airport operators all over the world when faced with such a situation”. Isa also said that the airport requires payment from the owners for the landing, parking and other charges. The advertisement didn’t say anything about the amount of these payments or for how long these airplanes have been parked for.
Two out of these three aircraft have been linked to Malaysia Airlines by aviation enthusiasts following an online search that revealed that MasKargo had leased two of the planes from Air Atlanta Icelandic. The company’s senior VP of sales and marketing, Baldvin M. Hermannsson said, in an email, that the three aircraft did belong to Air Atlantia, however, had been returned to the owners in 2010. He said, “Air Atlanta Icelandic does not have any knowledge of who the current owner of these aircraft is today, and has nothing to do with these aircraft.” He also said that the three aircraft had been de-registered from the Registry of the Icelandic Civil Aviation Authority, “No-one seems to have painted over the registration marks since then.”
The three Boeing aircraft are:
- An off-white 747-200F with the registration number TF-ARM and parked at the KLIA Bay B61
- A white 747-200F with registration number TF-ARN parked at the KLIA Bay B61
- A white 747-200F with registration number TF-ARH parked at KLIA Bay M3.
So if you are the owner of these 3 beauties, please take them home!