More than 200 passengers were today stranded at the Langkawi International Airport after a Boeing 737 aircraft of Rayani Air developed technical problems.

Flight RN180 scheduled for the KL International Airport 2 (KLIA2) at 11.10am was not allowed to depart due to the technical problems.

A Rayani Air customer service officer said the problems were still unidentified.

"I was made to understand that the engineering division is still waiting for the replacement parts to fix the aircraft," said the officer, who declined to reveal his name.

He said the affected passengers were given a choice whether to use ferry and bus services provided by the Rayani Air back to Kuala Lumpur or to get their air fares refunded.

The officer said another Rayani Air flight scheduled at 6.20pm had also been cancelled.

Meanwhile, Nor Azman Ali, one of the affected passengers, suggested that the airline bring in a substitute aircraft to serve the stranded passengers.

In a press statement, Rayani Air CEO Ravi Alagendrran apologised for the flight cancellation.

"This is not due to some technical error or event. Our windshield in the cockpit was found to be shattered after yesterday's night stop flight. We are investigating this incident whether it is an act of sabotage or not.

"We will liaise with relevant authorities to deal with this. In the interim, we are trying all we could to make all our passengers who are stranded to leave Langkawi safe and sound," he said.

For those who require reimbursement of air tickets, Ravi advised them to call the airline's hotline number.

"Please bear with us for some time," he added.

Rayani Air, Malaysia's first syariah-complaint airline, took to the skies on Dec 20 last year.

– Bernama