SEPANG: The terrorist attack on Istanbul’s Attaturk International Airport has so far not affected the current flight schedule at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), said Malaysia Aiport Holdings Bhd (MAHB) Managing Director, Datuk Badlisham Ghazali.
The incident is a concern to any individual and even more to MAHB, which has airport infrastructure, he said.
Badlisham also expressed his condolences on behalf of MAHB to those affected in the tragedy.
Turkish officials said at least 36 people were killed and 147 others injured following the bombing this morning at Atartuk airport, the main international airport in Istanbul.
“We will monitor the situation as we were notified that Ataturk Airport will be closed I believe until tomorrow, and if there are flights from KLIA to Ataturk there is a possibility of a diversion to other airports in Turkey, if there are instructions by Turkish authorities,” he told reporters at KLIA’s 18th anniversary celebrations yesterday.
Some of the airports near Istanbul include Sabiha Gokcen International, which is owned by MAHB, as well as Izmir Airport and Ankara Esenboga Airport.
Regarding Sabiha Gokcen Airport, Badlisham said MAHB has been working hard for the past couple of months with security agencies in Turkey to beef up security at the airport.
Measures taken include increasing the parameters outside the airport including installing two towers for the police to get a bird’s eye view, increasing security measures in routing public transport into the airport, as well as securing some facilities that require better security features such as fuel bulkering.
“Besides improving the profiling of the passengers, we have also improved the security measures inside the terminal where more security forces can be seen as well as non-uniformed security personnel walking around the airport,” he said. — Bernama