KUALA LUMPUR – The Malaysia Airlines Airbus plane that was suddenly rerouted to the Mumbai International Airport during a flight from London to Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) three days ago is back in operation.
“This is part and parcel of airline operation. All passengers have cleared Mumbai. The aircraft is also back in operation. We have nothing further to add, other than the statement given yesterday,” the carrier spokesperson told Scoop today.
The airline told Scoop yesterday that the diversion was due to a technical issue.
As for a bomb threat received by Mumbai International Airport bomb, the airline spokesperson declined to comment when asked if the company was notified of the incident prior to the flight diversion.
The Asian News International reported that an individual sent an email to the airport on November 23 threatening to blow up Terminal 2 unless he was paid US$1 million in Bitcoin.
A day later, Times of India reported that a man from Kerala was arrested in connection to the bomb threat.
The first group of Malaysia Airlines passengers arrived at KLIA just before 9am today after being stranded in Mumbai for three days.
Lawrence Sathiaraj, whose father was one of the affected passengers, confirmed this to Scoop this morning.
He said that based on his conversation with his daughter late last night, there would be flights bringing home some stranded passengers today.
Yesterday, Scoop reported that Malaysia Airlines flight MH165 carrying passengers from London on Thursday bound to KLIA was diverted to Mumbai after a layover flight at Doha last Friday. – November 27, 2023