MAHB: Flashover incident triggered temporary power outage at KLIA2
KLIA2 was struck by a power blackout today, and Transport Minister Anthony Loke described it as completely unacceptable as it affects the country’s image.
The incident occurred while Loke was at KLIA2 for the launch of “Tap, Travel and Discover” by gateway@klia2.
A temporary power disruption occurred at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) Terminal 2 today following a flashover incident involving cable termination, said Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB).
MAHB assured that airport operations were not affected, as essential systems continued running without interruption.
“Our essential power systems, including backup generators activated immediately, ensuring the uninterrupted functionality of critical systems such as baggage handling, check-in counters, and flight information displays,” it said in a statement today.
MAHB said its technical teams responded swiftly and professionally, rerouting power from an alternate substation and successfully restoring full power supply within 28 minutes.
“All essential services remained operational throughout,” it added.
MAHB said a full report of the incident was being prepared for submission to the Transport Minister Anthony Loke.
“We are conducting a thorough assessment of the incident to prevent future occurrences and ensure the resilience of our infrastructure,” it said.
‘Unacceptable’
Loke had earlier criticised the power disruption, calling it unacceptable as it affected the country’s image.
The incident occurred while Loke was at KLIA2 for the launch of “Tap, Travel and Discover” by gateway@klia2.
He said, in the public transport sector, any technical disruption lasting more than 15 minutes is considered a major disruption, especially at the country’s main gateway.
“As usual, I arrived (at the event) 15 minutes early. I arrived at 2.10pm, but the programme could not commence until 2.35pm, I found that there was a power outage that lasted almost 20 minutes.
“What happened was unacceptable,” he said.
Loke said he found that many electrical systems were not working, including the terminal going dark, escalators stalled, although the information boards were still working.“Things like these give a very bad image to our country. The backup system should be working, but why was it not activated? There must be answers,” he said.
Loke said he had instructed MAHB and gateway@klia2 to prepare a full report within 24 hours and present the cause of the outage.
“I have a cabinet meeting tomorrow, and a post-cabinet (Transport Ministry) meeting in the afternoon, and I do not want to hear any excuses or accusations. I want a solution and a guarantee that this matter will not happen again,” he said.
Earlier, an electrical outage caused congestion in the escalator area and disrupted activities at the airport’s shopping premises.
- Bernama
