KLIA Aerotrain's Overall Service Availability Has Improved Despite Technical Glitch - MAHB

PUTRAJAYA, Sept 4 (Bernama) -- Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) has assured passengers of its commitment to delivering safe, reliable and efficient services following a technical issue that briefly disrupted the KLIA Aerotrain service yesterday.

MAHB managing director Datuk Mohd Izani Ghani said the incident was caused by a dislodged current collector device (CCD) which led to a temporary loss of power to one of the trains.

“We are equally disappointed, considering that the Aerotrain had just undergone a scheduled two-week maintenance involving all contractors. I have been made to understand by the Aerotrain’s project coordination lead, Alstom, that the cause of yesterday's incident was a dislodged CCD that triggered a loss  of power to the train.

“In our ongoing discussions, Alstom has agreed to provide a more detailed explanation regarding the dislodged CCD. I have also requested for Alstom to thoroughly investigate and vigilantly work with our own engineering teams during the daily train maintenance hours to identify potential risks," he said in a statement today.

He said despite the glitch, the Aerotrain’s operational service indicators show significant improvements since its relaunch in July 2025 with the Aerotrain recording an overall operational service availability (time in service over planned time in service) of 97.27 per cent and improving significantly to 99.93 per cent in August.

He said passenger numbers transferred between the main and satellite terminals via the Aerotrain have shown an upward trend, with 1.4 million passengers in July and 1.7 million passengers in August.

Cumulatively, the three Aerotrains have logged an average of 10,586 kilometres (km) in July and 10,723km in August. 

“Two trains have demonstrated increased mileage in the last week of August. For example, during the Aug 21-27 period, Train 1 logged 2,530 km (up from 1,765 km in previous week) and Train 2 logged 2,373 km (up from 2,035 km), indicating improved reliability and utilisation,” he added.

Mohd Izani said these achievements underscore MAHB's continuous efforts to enhance system performance and passenger experience. 

“However, as the airport operator, we expect better. We will continue to work with Alstom to implement comprehensive measures, including ongoing software updates and system enhancements, to ensure that such disruptions are minimised moving forward,” he added.

Mohd Izani said MAHB has also requested for an exhaustive remediation plan to minimise future occurrences. 

Meanwhile, Alstom Malaysia country managing director Sim Ooi Kok said the company is working closely with its supplier to support a thorough investigation into the root cause of the incident, which has been preliminarily attributed to a CCD.

“This incident is not reflective of the overall performance of the newly relaunched Aerotrain system. As a precautionary and corrective measure to reinforce system reliability, all CCDs will be inspected daily to detect any signs of abnormality,” he added.

It was reported a power trip caused one of the Aerotrains at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) to halt temporarily yesterday. The incident occurred at 1.36pm as the train was approaching the satellite terminal.

-- BERNAMA