Malaysia Airlines will reopen its borders to international travelers from April 1st. As a result, Malaysia Airlines is resuming its flagship double-daily flight between London Heathrow and Kuala Lumpur. Simple Flying recently caught up with the airline's UK regional manager, Daniel Bainbridge, about the service's prospects, including why the Airbus A350 is so valuable on the route.

Ramping up capacity

Malaysia has long been a hotspot for connections, business travel, and tourism. However, the pandemic rocked operations for two years. So, it’s not a surprise that the Malaysia Aviation Group welcomes the reopening of its country's borders.

Ahead of the big day, Malaysia Airlines has been gearing up for an increase in flight capacity with its Airbus A350s. The flag carrier will be boosting flight capacity by more than 70,000 seats on its non-stop flight schedule from London Heathrow (LHR) to Kuala Lumpur (KUL) from March 27th. Subsequently, Flight MH1 and Flight MH3 will perform 11 weekly services until June 29th when flights will switch to double daily.

London is the only European destination where Malaysia Airlines is scheduled to fly directly. Thus, this operation to the capital of the UK offers critical connection opportunities between Europe and Malaysia. It also provides useful links to Malaysia's Asia-Pacific neighbors.

Malaysia A350
The aircraft has a range of 8,100 nm (15,001 km), making it a great fit for intercontinental journeys. Photo: Airbus

Across the cabin

Malaysia Airlines currently holds six Airbus A350-900s in its fleet, at an average age of four years. According to ch-aviation, they provide a combined capacity of over 1,700 seats. Notably, the capacity is far less than the six A380s, a type that used to be deployed on the London route. They offer a combined capacity of over 2,900 seats. Nonetheless, Malaysia Airlines has managed to find a better balance with the A350.

Bainbridge explained the cabin characteristics to Simple Flying:

“The A350 has proved to be an ideal aircraft for London-Kuala Lumpur. It's proved very good from a passenger's perspective. It's popular, and the onboard cabin environment is great in terms of air filtration and pressurization, and customers love it. They certainly prefer it to some of the other aircraft that we may have operated in the past and other airlines operate in the skies at the moment. We've also got a very good optimal setup in terms of seating configuration. We've got four business suites, which is our rebranded first class. So, there is a definite demand for that. It's an exclusive environment, and we sell that well on the route between London Kuala Lumpur. We've also got a business class cabin with 33 seats, and an economy cabin of over 240 seats, 27 of which have extra legroom, which is considerably popular.”

Bainbridge highlights that other airlines that have a separate premium economy cabin attract a higher air passenger duty, so they end up having a product that's significantly more expensive to the customer. Meanwhile, the extra legroom seats are not in a separate cabin and are not branded as such. It’s just the first five rows of the economy cabin, allowing passengers to pay a more modest supplement to the economy price. Many customers are willing to fork over the extra rate on such long-haul flights to Malaysia and beyond.

business_class
The total capacity on board is 286 seats. Photo: Malaysia Airlines

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Broader advantages

Naturally, there are operational benefits to be had. The two engines allow commercial costs to be cut substantially over the quadjet A380, especially in the current political climate that has left the aviation industry anxious about fuel supply and prices. One of the biggest commercial pressures is the cost of fuel. Additionally, sustainability is also a key focus for the industry. With up to 80% more carbon dioxide per block hour emitted on the A380 over the A350, there are considerable savings to be had on long-haul missions.

All in all, the A350 is proving its worth as a commercial aviation mainstay and is expected to remain a flagship in global fleets for decades to come. Malaysia Airlines will undoubtedly be excited to deploy the type more frequently on its lucrative London-Kuala Lumpur route.

What are your thoughts about the Airbus A350 and its operations with Malaysia Airlines? What do you make of the overall prospects of the Kuala Lumpur-Malaysia route? Let us know what you think in the comment section.