Malaysian Airline System Bhd. (MAS) said one of its planes with 239 people on board went missing an hour into a flight to Beijing, triggering a search effort from at least six nations.
China, Vietnam, the Philippines, the U.S. and Singapore are assisting Malaysia to find the Boeing Co. (BA:US) 777-200 aircraft, with 227 passengers and 12 crew, Prime Minister Najib Razak told reporters in Kuala Lumpur. No wreckage has been sighted for MH370 and search by sea will continue through the night while air missions will restart at daylight, the airline said.
“We deeply regret that we have lost all contacts with flight MH370,” the airline’s Chief Executive Officer Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said earlier today, adding that an early review showed that there was no bad weather. “Our team is currently calling the next-of-kin of passengers and crew.”
The last communication with the aircraft was “normal,” said Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, director general of Malaysia’s Department of Civil Aviation. The department last contacted the pilot before it handed over the aircraft to Vietnamese authorities, he said. The airliner lost contact one minute before entering Vietnam’s airspace, its government said on its website.
The plane disappeared from Malaysian radar at 1:30 a.m. and the department informed the carrier at 2:40 a.m., Azharuddin said. The last radar contact with the plane was about 120 nautical miles east of Kota Bahru, near the South China Sea, the airline’s CEO said earlier today.
Najib said 15 aircraft, including helicopters, and nine ships are involved in the search.
Worst Fears
The flight, which was carrying passengers from countries including China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, France, New Zealand, India and the U.S., departed from the Malaysian capital at about 12:41 a.m. local time and was scheduled to land in Beijing at 6.30 a.m. There are no indications as yet of any distress signal from the aircraft, Ahmad Jauhari said.
“The Australian Government fears the worst for those aboard missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370,” it said in an e-mailed statement.
There was no information of a possible bomb or terror attack behind the missing plane, and Malaysia is studying all possibilities, Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told reporters.
Najib said he spoke with his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang to express sympathy. The Philippines sent three naval vessels and at least two planes to search for the aircraft, said Lieutenant Cherryl Tindog, spokeswoman of the Armed Forces’ Western Command. China dispatched two ships, China Central Television reported on its official Weibo microblog account. Singapore’s air force dispatched a C130 airplane to search the area.
Relatives, Friends
“I am waiting for my two friends,” Chong Ken Fei, a Malaysian, said at the Beijing Capital (694) International Airport earlier today. “I am very worried. We planned to travel together but I arrived before them because we flew on different planes.” The information board had earlier listed the flight as “delayed” in red.
The passengers’ relatives and friends were told to go to a hotel in northeast Beijing to await information. One elderly woman who arrived at the hotel began to wail for her son before being ushered into a room with other family members.
China’s aviation authority said that the Malaysian flight hadn’t made contact and that the flight-radar signal was lost with Ho Chi Minh City air control, Xinhua News Agency reported.
The Boeing 777-200 plane was 11 years and 10 months old and had fuel to fly to Beijing and beyond, Ahmad Jauhari said.
Safety Records
“Malaysian Air’s safety records have been very good,” said Mohshin Aziz, an analyst at Maybank Investment Bank Bhd., describing the Boeing 777 as the safest aircraft in the world. “They will likely investigate start to finish.”
Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 53, and First Officer Fariq Ab. Hamid, 27, were the pilots, according to an airline statement. The captain had 18,365 flying hours and joined the company in 1981, while his first officer had 2,763 hours of flying. The first officer joined the Subang Jaya-based airline in 2007.
“We’re closely monitoring reports on Malaysia flight MH370,” Chicago-based Boeing said on its Twitter feed. “Our thoughts are with everyone on board.” The company is assembling a team to provide technical assistance.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said it is aware of the reports of the loss of MH370 and “we are monitoring the situation,” according to a Twitter feed.
Popular Model
The Boeing 777 is among the most-popular long-haul jetliners because it combines the fuel efficiency of a twin-engine model with the ability to carry more than 300 people, depending on the variant and the cabin layout.
A Boeing 777 operated by Asiana Airlines Inc. crashed on landing in San Francisco last year, killing three people. That was the third time a 777 was destroyed in an accident, according to AviationSafetyNetwork, an online log of aviation crashes. No one died in the two previous incidents.
Last year, a plane operated by MASwings, a subsidiary of Malaysian Air, crashed in Sabah state in the country, killing two people. The Twin Otter DHC6 plane, a twin-engine turboprop aircraft, flying from Kota Kinabalu, landed short of the runway.
State-owned Malaysian Air, drawing up plans to upgrade its fleet after failing to post a profit in each of the past three years, is fending off competition from a rash of budget airlines that have started in the region in the past decade. The growth has also brought in more emphasis on safety in Asia, a market that Boeing and Airbus Group NV (AIR) expect to overtake the U.S. as the world’s biggest aircraft market because of the boom.
Since 1937
The national carrier, incorporated as Malayan Airways Ltd. in October 1937, operates a fleet of 96 planes, according to its website. Of that, 15 are Boeing 777-200 type. The airline, which also operates Airbus jets, moves 37,000 passengers daily to 80 destinations worldwide.
Malaysian Air reported a net loss of 1.17 billion ringgit ($359 million) last year. The company’s shares lost 19 percent of their value this year, lagging behind a 1.9 percent drop in the benchmark index.
“Malaysian Air has been struggling in its business due to competition and managing costs is an issue in the industry,” said Wong Ming Tek, who covers the airline as an analyst at HwangDBS-Vickers Research Sdn. in Kuala Lumpur. “It’s the last thing they want, when they are trying to revive profitability.”
To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Chong Pooi Koon in Kuala Lumpur at +60-3-2302-7854 or pchong17@bloomberg.net; Kyunghee Park in Singapore at +65-6212-1541 or kpark3@bloomberg.net
To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Kyunghee Park in Singapore at kpark3@bloomberg.net; Chong Pooi Koon in Kuala Lumpur at pchong17@bloomberg.net; Manirajan Ramasamy in Kuala Lumpur at rmanirajan@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Anand Krishnamoorthy at anandk@bloomberg.net
Source: Top Stories - Google News - http://ift.tt/1il5od7
0 comments:
Post a Comment