Malaysia Airlines ramped up its capacity back to pre-pandemic levels
Amit Mehta
What is your current capacity to India and how does it compare with 2019?
Malaysia Airlines used to operate 60 flights weekly connecting six Indian cities before the pandemic. Starting March 2022, we reinstated scheduled commercial services from India and currently operate 52 weekly flights to cities including Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kochi.
What is the load factor and by when will you reach/exceed 2019 levels?
Current load factor for the market has been encouraging with up to 70 pc load factor on these flights and forecasted forward load factor of up to 80 pc by the end of 2022. We are looking at achieving pre-pandemic capacity back for India by the end of the year. We will deploy fleet and network expansion opportunistically during peak periods to service high demand/capacity sectors.
Which segment in India is working the best for you currently?
The leisure and visiting friends and family (VFR) segments, as well as students, are driving travel demand, while corporate travel is also increasing.
What is your forecast for 2023?
Despite 2022 being a challenging year, we remain bullish and steadfast on Malaysia Airlines’ future and long-term goals as we continue to drive growth in every aspect of our business for market relevance, but of course, cautiously optimistic about the operating environments and fluctuating market conditions.
India has always been an extremely important market for Malaysia Airlines and being the fastest growing economy in the world it offers a huge potential. We are continuously reviewing the opportunities in the India market and will add new routes, increase frequencies or upgrade aircraft wherever needed to meet these demands.
Is most of your traffic to Malaysia or for onward journeys?
We witness a mix of onward traffic to Australia, Indonesia as well as Malaysian destinations.
How do you compare with competition — full service or low cost?
Malaysia Airlines is a full-service premium airline flying to 55 destinations across Asia, Australia, Europe and the Middle East. Its subsidiaries include MASwings and FireFly, which operate regional flights to destinations outside Peninsular Malaysia.
We keep evolving our products to suit the diverse needs of our customers. To offer customers a flexible fare based on their travel needs, preferences, priorities and purchasing capabilities we have launched Horizontal Fare Family (HFF). It is a fare brand name which consists of Lite, Basic and Flex where each fare family has different benefits such as baggage allowance, seat selections, priority services. These fare brands also offer different flexibility in terms of refunds and rebooking.
What is new about Malaysia Airlines?
Malaysia Airlines offers something for everyone. We continuously enhance our products and offerings to ensure a seamless, end-to-end travel experience for our customers–be it for leisure or business travel. We recently launched the Bonus Side Trip programme in India, which enables passengers to make the most of their itinerary by exploring one of seven domestic wonders in Malaysia at minimal costs.
This is great for those who really want to experience Malaysian Hospitality in its totality, because you get to explore the diverse culture, warm hospitality, and delicacies Malaysia has to offer as part of your travel plans. As part of the programme, passengers get a chance to explore one of the seven domestic getaway destinations in Malaysia i.e., Penang, Langkawi, Johor Bahru, Kuala Terengganu, Kota Bharu, AlorSetar, Kuantan.
To encourage corporate travel, we have introduced programmes such as MHBiz Pro and MHBiz Plus. MHbiz Pro is designed for small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and corporates that wish to self-manage their corporate travel. Another programme that provides greater customisation to a company’s travel requirements with more benefits is MHbiz Plus, which makes the experience of business travel easier and better.
The airline also offers a suite of products to provide a seamless and holistic digital journey for our young travellers through the MHexplorer programme, which offers discounts on flight tickets all-year round, additional baggage allowance, shopping discounts, and many more fun perks.
