MAG says mass drug screenings for Malaysia Airlines crew near 100pc

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 4 — Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG) has completed drug screenings for nearly all Malaysia Airlines cabin crew following the arrest of a pilot in Jakarta, president and group chief executive officer Capt. Nasaruddin A. Bakar said today.

Nasaruddin told reporters that 98.8 per cent of the carrier’s 2,840 cabin crew members have tested negative so far, with the remaining 1.2 per cent scheduled to undergo screening today.

“It will be an ongoing process, including for pilots,” Nasaruddin said following an event announcing new route launches for Malaysia Airlines and its budget subsidiary Firefly.

MAG, the parent company of the flag carrier, ordered mass drug testing across its cabin operations last month after an off-duty Malaysia Airlines second officer was detained in Indonesia on July 29.

Indonesian authorities arrested the pilot at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport after discovering 25 kilograms of ecstasy pills and 2.7 grams of methamphetamine in his luggage.

The pilot, who was traveling in the cockpit jump seat as a passenger, tested positive for methamphetamine, ecstasy, and cocaine.

He was allegedly promised RM50,000 to transport the illicit drugs.

On Aug 17, MAG announced that all operationally active Malaysia Airlines pilots had undergone drug tests and tested negative. Nasaruddin suggested the company plans to make testing continuous.

“We will do random tests and it would be frequent,” he told reporters.