'Information on missing MH370 is being withheld,' says boss of Emirates airline- A full transcript of Sir Tim Clark's interview has been made public
- Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 disappeared on March 8, 2014
- There were 239 people on board the flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing
- Sir Tim has also said the somebody took control of the aircraft before it vanished
- The Emirates CEO said the industry must not accept MH370's a 'mystery'
By
Sally Lee for Daily Mail Australia
Published: 16:01 AEST, 22 November 2014 | Updated: 21:59 AEST, 22 November 2014
The chief executive of Emirates believes information on missing aircraft MH370 is being withheld by authorities.
This was revealed in a formerly unpublished full transcript of an interview conducted by well-known aviation journalist Andreas Spaeth, which has been made available on the
Sydney Morning Herald.
Sir Tim Clark further questioned the role of the Malaysian military after the Malaysian Airlines flight disappeared on March 8 this year carrying 239 people, including six Australians, while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
'I think we will know more if there is full transparency of everything that everybody knows. I do not believe that the information held by some is on the table,' he said in the interview.
'Who actually disabled ACARS [the plane's Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System], who knew how to do it?
'If you eliminate the pilot on a suicide mission, I'm sure you could have put the aircraft in the South China Sea, rather than fly it for seven hours. So if he was on a suicide mission, he would have done it then. Who then took control of the aircraft? Who then knew how to disable ACARS and turn the transponder off? That is a huge challenge.'
When asked whether he can comprehend the mysterious disappearance of a plane in this day and age, Sir Clark responded:
'Therein lies this huge question mark in my mind. I know this did not have to happen, there is technology to track these aircraft and everybody will say that, Boeing or Airbus.
'That is where the conundrum is of mystery, that is where we must be more forthright and candid as to what went on, it is not good enough for the Malaysian military to say: "On a prime radar we identified it as 'friendly'".'
Sir Tim, who's airline Emirates operates almost 130 Boeing 777 aircraft - similar to the doomed jet, added the role of the Malaysian military has been 'bizarre'.
'This is a very busy part of Southeast Asia, the notion that we should not be able to identify if it is friend or foe, or we can on primary radar and do nothing about it, is bizarre,' he said.
'What would have happened if the aircraft would have turned back to fly into the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur? But we identified it as "friendly"? Friendly with intent, or friendly without intent? But what was done? These are the questions that need to be asked of the people and the entities that were involved in all of this. Full transparency of that will help us to find out what went on.'
In Spaeth's article, which was published for German magazine
Spiege last month, Sir Tim also claimed that 'control was taken of' Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 before it vanished.
Sir Tim said it was very important that the airline industry does not accept that the fate of MH370 is an 'unexplained mystery'.
'MH370 remains one of the great aviation mysteries. Personally, I have the concern that we will treat it as such and move on. At the most, it might then make an appearance on National Geographic as one of aviation's great mysteries. We mustn't allow this to happen. We must know what caused that airplane to disappear,' Sir Tim said.
Earlier this week, the government created a video to explain to the heartbroken families of MH370 victims why their loved ones have still not been found after eight months.
In the four-minute video, posted by the Joint Agency Coordination Centre on YouTube, authorities attempt to explain why the search mission has taken so long and why the search area continues to be based along the seventh arc in the southern Indian Ocean, an area with incredibly deep water and rough conditions.
The arc is described as 'a thin long line that identifies all the possible points the last communication between the aircraft and the communication satellite could have taken place'.
Trying to calm recent fears that the Australian-led search operation in the southern Indian Ocean off the coast of Perth in Western Australia could be stopped, the video says: 'The expert satellite working group is continually refining analysis of the available data to identify the areas of the highest priority for the search.'
Relatives of MH370 passengers were outraged last week after a senior Malaysia Airlines representative allegedly said the beleaguered carrier is planning on officially declaring the plane 'lost', which would call off the search.
Read more:
Emirates CEO Sir Tim Clark believes MH370 information is being withheld | Daily Mail Online