PETALING JAYA: Air Atlanta Icelandic says it has "nothing to do" with the three unclaimed aircraft at KL International Airport (KLIA), adding that the planes were de-registered and returned to their owner.
Air Atlanta Icelandic senior vice president of sales and marketing Baldvin M. Hermannsson told The Star in an email that the three aircraft did belong to Air Atlantia, but was returned to their owner in 2010.
"The aircraft bearing the registration mark TF-ARM, TF-ARN, TF-ARH, which are currently parked in Malaysia, were operated by Air Atlanta Icelandic until 2010 when they were returned to its owner.
"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 today," said Hermannsson.
Hemannsson did not say who the owner of the aircraft was in 2010.
He added that the three aircraft were de-registered from the Registry of the Icelandic Civil Aviation Authority.
The aircraft with registration TF-ARM and TF-ARN were de-registered on Jan 3, 2012, while TF-ARH was de-registered on June 9, 2011.
"No-one seems to have painted over the registration marks since then," said Hermannsson.
Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB), the country’s main airport operator, published an advertisement on Dec 7 in The Star and Sin Chew Daily to serve as notice to the owner of the aircraft that the planes may be sold or disposed of if not collected within 14 days.
The money raised by the sale would be used to offset any expenses and debts owed by the owner to Malaysia Airports.
MAHB said in a statement on Tuesday that giving such a notice by way of advertisement is a "common process" undertaken by airport operators around the world.
It said that it is also a "reasonable step" in the process of debt recovery, especially if the company concerned has ceased operations and is a foreign entity.
MAHB said that "exhaustive steps" were taken to find a contact person but its efforts have not been successful.
