KUALA LUMPUR, March 10 — Malaysia Airlines’ (MAS) response to the missing flight MH370 appeared slower than a previous incident in 1977 as it was now getting its information from a government agency.
In an interview today, former MAS managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman said that in the Tanjung Kupang hijacking in 1977, MAS had a direct line to the incident.
In the case of MH370, the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) has jurisdiction, he said.
“Right now, we don’t even know where the plane is. We don’t even know whether it has crashed or not. There are many things we do not know,” Abdul Aziz added.
Abdul Aziz was comparing the incident to Malaysia’s worst plane crash involved a Boeing 737-200 — MH653 — that crashed into a swamp in Tanjung Kupang in Johor on December 4, 1977, killing all onboard.
Abdul Aziz, who headed MAS at the time, said that the airlines had been aware of MH653’s situation even when it was still in flight.
He explained that back then, the crash happened on the ground, and it was easy for relevant authorities to take control of the situation.
But he later said the airlines and regulators were coping well despite the lack of information.
“For such an unusual and unexpected incident, it is hard for us to arrange everything. The management and the administration… DCA… has done a good job since the start,” Abdul Aziz told local news channel Bernama TV here.
“The families they want to know, they want accurate information and they want to know it fast. We are not ready. To gather every piece of information is not easy.”
MH370 has now been missing for over two days, and families of passengers are beginning to lose patience with the apparent pace of MAS’s response.
MAS says it has been in close contact with family members of passengers onboard the missing MH370 since yesterday, with its staff in Beijing providing immediate information and response to the next-of-kin of the passengers.
Malaysia has roped in neighbouring countries as well as China and the US in massive search-and-rescue operations at two separate locations ― near Vietnam in the South China Sea and in the vicinity of Penang in the Straits of Malacca.
The flight was carrying 12 crew members and 227 passengers.
