The alleged owner of three Boeing 747s that have sat on the ramp at Kuala Lumpur International Airport for six months says they’re the nucleus of a new charter freight business. Last week the airport operator ran photos of the tired-looking jumbos in newspapers saying it didn’t know who owned them and was about to auction them off. It gave the owners 14 days to claim the jets. Swift Air Cargo told The Associated Press it bought the aircraft from a Hong Kong owner in June, flew them to Kuala Lumpur and has been waiting for the bureaucracy to work before it starts business. “We are dumbfounded and perplexed by Malaysia Airport’s move. Swift is the owner and we definitely have not forgotten the planes,” said Swift’s lawyer, Syed Amir Syakib Arslan.
Malaysia Airports isn’t so sure and has asked for more documentation from the company. Complicating the situation might be the fact that the registered owner of the aircraft is something called “Splunk n’ Dash” and the change to Swift Air Cargo is also grinding through the Malaysian government. Nevertheless, Splunk n’ Dash says it’s committed to creating a long-distance courier service with flights to Africa and South America. “SWIFT has been under development for a period of 10 years and will be flying shortly,” its website assures.
