SEPANG: Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) has suspended its aerotrain services at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) today until further notice.
This comes after a breakdown at 3pm on Wednesday that involved 114 passengers.
Previous breakdowns had disrupted the service in the past eight years.
Ten of the 114 passengers missed their flights yesterday.
MAHB offered them accommodation and gave them seats on other flights free-of-charge.
MAHB managing director Datuk Iskandar Mizal Mahmood said 18 shuttle buses were deployed to ferry passengers between the terminals.
"We regret the inconvenience and sincerely apologise for the matter.
"The decision taken is for safety reasons. We do not want anymore passengers going through the same situation again," he told a press conference at KLIA today.
The breakdown occurred yesterday as passengers were being transported to KLIA's satellite terminal from the main terminal.
Iskandar Mizal said passengers were forced to walk 400m on the track in the rain.
He said preliminary findings showed that the aerotrain's battery circuit breaker had tripped.
He said a full assessment was being carried out.
Iskandar Mizal said as KLIA's aerotrain was more than 20 years old, some parts were no longer available from the original equipment manufacturer.
MAHB is expected to obtain new trains by 2025 under the RM700 million aerotrain replacement programme.
Iskandar Mizal said attempts were being made to resume operations.
"We have to be responsible and try to fix this. We need to ensure that we have exhausted all alternatives. We will continue to look into it," he added.
On the 18 shuttle buses, Iskandar Mizal said each could accommodate 40 passengers.
"The buses are available 24 hours a day.
"We also have people on the ground to assist wheelchair passengers to board the buses. I understand some might be uncomfortable that our trains are no longer operating, but we will do our best for the passengers," he said.
KLIA's aerotrain breakdowns had caused huge inconvenience to passengers in the past.