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.
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.
Malaysia Aviation Group said in a statement on Friday that it would carry out tests “for all active pilots, beyond industry practice”.
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.
Pilots who are not tested will “not operate flights” until they have been cleared, the company said.
The process would complement the aviation group’s “existing random testing programme”, it added.
“Operational safety and crew fitness for duty are non-negotiable,” said the group’s president and chief executive, Captain Nasaruddin A. Bakar.
“We take any breach of our safety standards seriously and have acted swiftly to enhance mandatory drug screening across our active pilots.”
The detained pilot faces the death penalty on conviction in Indonesia.
Results of his urine test came back positive for meth, MDMA and cocaine, according to Indonesian customs officials.
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”.
It added that the aircraft “was operated safely at all times by two qualified operating pilots”.
AFP
