Malaysia Airlines to Screen Pilots Following Indonesian Narcotics Bust

n n

Malaysia Airlines’ parent firm announced on Friday mandatory drug screenings for its pilots, after one of them tested positive for a cocktail of narcotics and was arrested in Indonesia for smuggling.

n

Authorities at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport arrested the 39-year-old pilot last month, shortly after arriving from Kuala Lumpur, for allegedly attempting to smuggle more than 70,000 ecstasy tablets in his suitcase.

n

Malaysia Aviation Group said in a statement on Friday that it would carry out tests “for all active pilots, beyond industry practice”.

n

The group, which also owns budget airline Firefly, said the process would begin with 1,260 pilots from the national carrier, with tests to be completed by August 15.

n

Pilots who are not tested will “not operate flights” until they have been cleared, the company said.

n

The process would complement the aviation group’s “existing random testing programme”, it added.

n

“Operational safety and crew fitness for duty are non-negotiable,” said the group’s president and chief executive, Captain Nasaruddin A. Bakar.

n

“We take any breach of our safety standards seriously and have acted swiftly to enhance mandatory drug screening across our active pilots.”

n

The detained pilot faces the death penalty on conviction in Indonesia.

n

Results of his urine test came back positive for meth, MDMA and cocaine, according to Indonesian customs officials.

n

Malaysia Aviation Group has said he was not the one who flew the plane from Kuala Lumpur that day, but a cockpit “observer” who had been “off duty for two days preceding the incident”.

n

It added that the aircraft “was operated safely at all times by two qualified operating pilots”.

n

AFP

n n