AirAsia Apologises, Says Magazine Not Referring To Missing Malaysia Airlines MH370
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- Published on Saturday, 05 April 2014 13:53
Pic : The Malay MailKUALA LUMPUR: AirAsia clarified today that an offending line in its in-flight magazine boasting that its skilful pilots would never lose a plane, was not made in reference to the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.
In a statement here, AirAsia executive chairman and Travel 3Sixty’s publisher Datuk Kamarudin Meranun apologised for the slight and said that copies of the magazine have been removed from all AirAsia flights.
“With deep regret and remorse I would like to sincerely apologise for any offense caused by the Pilot’s Perspective article in the latest issue of Travel 3Sixty magazine,” he said.
Kamarudin explained that the offensive line was in the monthly column on aviation written by Captain Lim Khoy Hing, a retired pilot who worked with both AirAsia and MAS. He has also written books on the aviation industry.
He said Lim, who is a monthly contributor, prepares all his articles months in advance before the magazine goes to print.
“Unintentionally and regrettably, the current issue carry an article that discuss GPS and Radar, which was printed a month before its issue date,” Kamarudin said.
MH370 went missing on the morning of March 8, well after the magazine went to print two months ago.
“We’ve addressed the issue and have improved our editorial approval process to ensure this does not happen in the future and ensure that all content in the magazine is consistent with our brand values.
“A disciplinary action will be taken to the editorial team as well,” Kamarudin said.
He said AirAsia’s thoughts and prayers remain with the families of those aboard the missing jetliner, adding that he was deeply saddened that the article had been released at such an “inopportune moment”.
The issue first came to light when a passenger flying aboard an AirAsia flight photographed the page and posted it on the microblogging site yesterday, before accusing the airline of being managed by “arrogant douchebags”.
A check of the online edition of the magazine showed that the page in question and the particular text as photographed by the Twitter user was correct.
In the Travel 3Sixty’s April edition, the magazine carried a feature on global positioning system (GPS) navigation used in flights, along with examples of pilot navigation errors that occurred — coincidentally — on Boeing aircraft.
AirAsia exclusively flies Airbus planes.
In an inset touting the expertise of the budget airlines’ pilots, however, was a selection of words that some have construed as inappropriate against the backdrop of the missing Boeing 777-200ER that disappeared on March 8 with 239 on board.
“Pilot training in AirAsia is very thorough and continuous. Rest assured that your Captain is well-trained and the plane will never get lost,” read the promotional message.
MH370 went missing shortly after departing Kuala Lumpur International Airport for Beijing on March 8 and remains missing despite an international search involving over two dozen countries.
Malaysia on March 24 announced that the flight likely ended “somewhere in the middle of the Indian Ocean”; MAS subsequently informed relatives that it assumed that the plane had crashed with no survivors.
Search for the plane is now concentrated in an area 2,000km west of Perth, Australia where a race against time is currently on to locate the plane’s “black boxes” before their transmitter beacons run out of power around April 8.
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