MAB London-KL Turned Back Mid-Flight Due to Technical Issues

22nd Dec 2016

Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAB) flight MH1, scheduled from London to Kuala Lumpur was forced to turn back to Heathrow Airport after experiencing a technical issue over Germany.

The Malaysian carrier released a statement shortly after its aircraft landed back in Heathrow, saying that the Airbus A380-800 “experienced a technical defect on one of its Airbus A380 doors while in-flight over Germany”.

The statement from MAB also said:

The noise and vibration from the door was of no immediate risk. In the interest of passenger safety, the flight captain decided to return to Heathrow Airport.

The pilot dumped fuel over the North Sea as a precaution and turned the plane west toward Budapest. He landed it in safely in London four hours after it originally departed for Malaysia.

MAB said it will send engineers and technical staff to examine the plane and determine the cause of the malfunction.

This was quite the scare for the Malaysian carrier, particularly knowing its history with crashed planes. The airline is still reeling from the twin plane disasters that happened to it back in 2014 when flight MH370 disappeared in March and MH17 was shot down in July.

Malaysia Airlines Sponsors National Olympic Divers

Meanwhile, Malaysia Airlines has announced it will sponsor Pandelela Rinong and Nur Dhabitah Sabri, country’s Olympic divers, for the next four years. This means that Pandelela and Nur Dhabitah can concentrate fully on preparing for the next Olympic Games in Tokyo, 2020 and not worry about sponsors.

The sponsorship was announced at MAB headquarters and includes all-inclusive return flights on Business Class within Malaysia. In addition, MAB will also financially support the two Olympic divers up to Tokyo Olympics.

Pete Bellew, Malaysia Airlines Bhd chief executive officer said upon announcing the sponsorship:

Dhabitah and Pandelela are national heroes. The country was glued to the media tracking their moves in Rio this year. They showed that through hard work, focus and determination you can achieve great things. I think for our staff they are a tremendous example of success and we are proud to be associated with them. I look forward to following their achievements and challenges and we wish them well on their goal for gold in Tokyo 2020.