Haze leaves passengers stranded at Ipoh airport

© Provided by Media Prima Some of the stranded passengers seen waiting for the latest updates on their flights at the Sultan Azlan Shah Airport. - Bernama

IPOH: Hundreds of passengers were left stranded at the Sultan Azlan Shah (SAS) Airport as poor air quality in the city due to the haze forced flights to be cancelled or delayed.

SAS manager Mohd Ali Osman said 549 stranded passengers were supposed to fly out to Singapore and Johor Baru today, but had their flights cancelled.

Meanwhile, 555 passengers who were supposed to arrive at SAS on four flights were diverted to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) and Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport (SAAS) in Subang.

“Two Scoot Airlines from Singapore, and one each from Malindo Air and Air Asia, were scheduled to arrive here at 9am, but are now stranded in KLIA and SAAS.

“These flights need to be diverted to Kuala Lumpur and Subang before arriving here, following poor weather conditions,” he said when met at the airport today.

Mohd Osman added that as of now, the airport management was trying its best to cooperate with other airlines to manage the stranded passengers.

“As of 2pm, one flight will be flying tomorrow morning, another flight has been cancelled and the rest is still waiting for the confirmation.

“We hope the weather will improve so that the passengers can fly to their destination safely,” he said.

Passenger, M. Shamsher, 37, said he was scheduled to fly to Johor Baru at 3.40pm but had yet to be called in for boarding.

“I have never experienced this before. I am a frequent flyer to Johor Baru as I work there. I’ve come to this airport so many time but I have never seen such chaotic situation like this,” said the diving technician.

A passenger, who wished to be known as Coco, said she was scheduled to fly to Singapore this morning, but her flight was delayed to tomorrow morning.

“I want to spend the long holiday this weekend with my children in Singapore but I never expected this to happen.

“My flight has been rescheduled tomorrow but I have not received any further details. It is pretty chaotic right now,” she said.

Checks at the airport also showed that some passengers who had checked in their luggages claiming their belongings since their flights had been cancelled and delayed.

Some of them had been waiting since early this morning and were only aware their flights had been delayed once they were in the airport.

Most of the flights from Sultan Azlan Shah Airport are flying to Singapore and Johor Baru. - Mkini