Malaysia Airlines keen to develop charter segment

SEPANG, March 22 -- Malaysia Airlines’ (MAB) Chief Commercial Officer, Paul Simmons unveiled the new A330 Business Class seats of its aircraft A330-300 at Hanger 6, Engineering Complex in Sepang, Tuesday. The new business class seat will be available on MAB A330 flights between Kuala Lumpur and Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, China and India --fotoBERNAMA (2016) COPYRIGHT RESERVED

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Airlines Bhd is keen to develop its charter business segment and grow revenue contribution to the group by utilising its Airbus A380 aircraft.

Chief commercial officer Paul Andrew Simmons said the segment’s current contribution to the group was significant albeit still in the single-digit percentage.

“The great thing about using an A380 for chartered business is that our cost per seat is very effective as it provides 500 seats that will be fully taken up,” he told a press conference after signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Andalusia Travel & Tours Sdn Bhd and Rayhar Travels Sdn Bhd here on Thursday.

Simmons said there was stronger demand for chartered aircraft from the  China-Malaysia route segment, primarily the China-Sabah route.

On the MoU, he said the collaboration would present an opportunity for the airline to continue developing its charter business for the religious market segment.

“We are not projected to make a profit until 2018 but we are off to a good start because the charter business will help (with improving the company’s financial performance),” he added.

Meanwhile, Andalusia managing director Ibrahim Mat Sin said the chartering of the A380 aircraft was crucial considering the growing number of umrah pilgrims year-on-year.

“We have scheduled 53 chartered flights with Malaysia Airlines, which provides 24,150 seats, to fly to Madinah and Jeddah from Nov 10, 2016 to July 6, 2017,” he added. - Bernama