Low-cost carrier AirAsia has responded to photos circulating on social media where it showed the seats’ armrests taped with yellow tape on an international flight from Taipei to KL.
This comes after one of the passengers expressed his embarrassment in a Facebook post upon seeing the taped armrests and wrote that foreigners would think they’re going to a ‘backward country’.
Spare parts shortage to blame
In a statement provided to Borneo Post, AirAsia’s head of engineering Alvin Tan said the cause was the shortage of spare parts affecting operators worldwide.
He also said that the recent global shortage of spare parts had affected various airline operators, including AirAsia.
Due to the shortage of spare parts affecting operators worldwide and taking into account that this is not a safety issue, the vinyl tape – which is commonly used to cosmetic cabin repairs – was used as a temporary measure to prevent flight disruptions and to prioritise getting our guests to their destinations safely and timely.
“Spare parts orders placed in Aug 2022 have arrived last week and repair work is currently ongoing to fix all of the arm-rests,” he said.
Passenger expresses worry
Speaking to WeirdKaya, the man behind the viral post, Edward Yong said that the flight was was delayed by 50 minutes, and that the armrests were rather uncomfortable.
He added that he has been flying with AirAsia for awhile but now sees the airline as his “second or third choice” following the incident.
When asked about his thoughts about AirAsia’s official response to the matter, Edward expressed worry over it, quipping, “Can you imagine what other spare parts are not in stock?”
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