• 

  Malaysia Airlines

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  MH/MAS

  Airline Type:

  Full Service Carrier

  Hub(s):

  Kuala Lumpur International Airport

  Year Founded:

  May 1st, 1947

  Alliance:

  oneworld

  CEO:

  Izham Ismail

  Country:

  Malaysia

Encouraged by better-than-expected numbers, Malaysia Airlines has high hopes for India for the rest of the year. The airline has traditionally received decent traffic from the country, particularly for passengers looking to travel within the Southeast Asia region. And judging by its current load factors, the carrier expects to make significant strides within India and beyond.

Increasing frequencies

Malaysia Airlines is projecting to reach pre-pandemic traffic in India by year-end. Mint has published an email interview with the carrier’s CEO Izham Ismail, in which he suggests that the airline expects a substantial uptick in travel from India to destinations in the Southeast Asia region and beyond.

Ismail said that the carrier has increased frequencies and switched to widebody airplanes to certain Indian destinations following “better-than-expected demand pickup.” The situation in India looks very promising, and the airline is closely monitoring the market to expand opportunities based on the demands.

Like other international carriers, Malaysia Airlines, too, resumed scheduled services to India after March 27th, with 25 weekly flights from five major cities, namely New Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai, and Hyderabad. This number is likely to increase as the year progresses, with the airline looking to achieve pre-pandemic capacity by the end of the year.

Eyeing connecting passengers

Before COVID, Malaysia Airlines relied on Indian passengers connecting through Kuala Lumpur airport to popular destinations in the Asia-Pacific region. Indeed, that expectation still remains, and the airline hopes to attract more Indian traffic through competitive fares and deals.

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Ismail cites a Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) India report that has indicated that 2022 is expected to see a surge of 52% in domestic and 60% in international air traffic in India. Regarding his expectations from Indian passengers, he adds,

“We are expecting closer or short-haul destinations such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore to see a strong uptick in the next few quarters, among the first-time international leisure travellers. We are also seeing a lot of demand coming in for Australia, Indonesia and other Asia-Pacific destinations on our network from India.”

Post-COVID recovery attempts

From May 1st, Malaysia axed the mandatory pre-departure and on-arrival tests for fully vaccinated passengers, paving the way for the economy to recover and airlines to expand their networks again.

Since the country has reopened, Malaysia Airlines has seen remarkable ticket sales and a growth of more than 100%. According to the airline’s CEO, they are currently looking at encouraging advanced bookings with more than 80% load factor on most flights.

Beyond India, the airline was also in the news recently for announcing flights to Tokyo Haneda beginning August 14th, bolstering its Japanese network to four routes.

Going forward, Malaysia Airlines will look to add value and focus on customer satisfaction. From ensuring that every aircraft sent out to work is making enough money to gauging how happy the customer was with the service, the carrier is leaving no stone unturned as it sets out with a post-pandemic plan. Simple Flying also tested the airline’s readiness by reviewing its business class product recently on a London to Kuala Lumpur flight.

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Source: Mint