Relax - Budget flight delayed, passengers vandalise airport

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[top photo: Polonia International Airport in Medan]

AirAsia could face sanctions for an incident in which its stranded passengers vandalized facilities at Polonia International Airport in Medan, North Sumatra, officials said Monday.

The chaos started as some 140 AirAsia passengers were left stranded at the airport for more than 15 hours on Sunday night.

Dozens of the passengers vandalized facilities, such as chairs and baggage trolleys, as a outlet for their frustration against AirAsia management for cancelling the flight.

They also detained AirAsia employee Imron Roni Harahap and prevented him from leaving the airport until the airline gave them assurances on their flight departure.

A passenger, Rudi, said the disorder, involving a number of passengers at the airport, was a spontaneous act because they were infuriated by AirAsia employees' failure to resolve the problem.

Rudi added that almost half the passengers on the scheduled flight work in Jakarta.

"We had asked them to look for another flight for that evening, but they failed to do so. I think we had every right to be angry because we had to work on Monday," Rudi told reporters at the airport.

The angry passengers should have left for Jakarta on Sunday on Flight 7497 operated by AirAsia at 7:10 p.m. local time.

However, the flight was cancelled and scheduled instead to depart at 11 a.m. the next day. Following the incident, AirAsia suspended its activities at the airport.

The Jakarta Post observed that its two ticket counters at the airport remained closed Monday.

None of AirAsia employees could be reached for confirmation.

The airport administration confirmed the airline company would continue operating but was temporarily closed because of the lack of a flight schedule. Polonia Airport manager Rajali Abubakar said Monday he had spoken to the manager of AirAsia in Medan to clarify the incident on Sunday night.

Rajali said an Air Asia representative had apologized for the incident, but the airport operator would proceed with administrative measures against the airline and issue an official reprimand.

He said his office had reported the incident to the Transportation Ministry in Jakarta, recommending that the central government impose sanctions against the Malaysian-based airline company.

The Sunday incident was not the first for AirAsia, which, he said, often left its passengers stranded for hours at Polonia Airport as the airline company regularly postponed its flights.

"AirAsia violated aviation regulations by delaying the flight and eventually cancelling it.

"As a consequence, dozens of enraged passengers who were stranded resorted to anarchy by damaging chairs and trolleys," Rajali said.

Rajali said his office would issue a warning to AirAsia for the violation. "We will reprimand them so they no longer delay their flights. As well as disappointing passengers, the move disrupts flight schedules at the airport," he said.

-The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network

Budget flight delayed, passengers vandalise airport

By Apriadi Gunawan , The Jakarta Post/ANN | Wed, Aug 12 2009

Some 140 AirAsia passengers were left stranded at a Medan airport in North Sumatra for more than 15 hours.

Budget flight delayed, passengers vandalise airport

Keywords

medan

airasia