The operators of Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) have placed a freakish advertisement in a Malaysian newspaper seeking the owners of three 747-200F aircraft apparently abandoned there.
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The notice this week warns the owners that the airport has the right to sell or dispose of the planes unless they are collected within 14 days.
Swift Air Cargo chief executive officer Blue Peterson said his firm had submitted its claim on the aircraft to MAH and that it had been in contact with the airport authority the entire time, but that did not stop the publication of a notice describing the planes as unclaimed.
“As such, we urge the rightful owner to furnish us with the required information for verification purposes”, MAHB general manager Zainol Mohd Isa said in a statement.
Swifts management said they were “stunned” by the global press coverage of the “lost 747s”, issuing an emphatic statement saying the aircraft were never abandoned and claiming clear ownership of the jets.
The jets appear to have been decommissioned and the ITA has no information on who now owns them.
Swift Air Cargo is now called Splunk n’ Dash Sdn Bhd until the change of name is approved by the Malaysian Department of Civil Aviation and the Companies Commission of Malaysia.
The airport has said that if payment for the various charges is not received by December 21, the planes will be auctioned off or sold for scrap.
Syed Amir said Swift has given the airport operator the sale and purchase agreement, a legal declaration from the previous Hong Kong owner of the planes on the sale as well as other original supporting documents to show ownership of the plane.
So far, attempts to trace the current owners of the aircraft have been unsuccessful, so the airport recently placed several ads in newspapers.
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Two of three aircraft have been linked to Malaysia Airlines after a search revealed that MASkargo, the cargo arm of Malaysia Airlines, had leased them from Air Atlanta Icelandic. Zainol said two are passenger aircraft and one is a cargo plane.
