KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Airlines will significantly reduce its overall network following the nationwide movement control order between March 18 to 31, 2020.
In a statement issued today, the airline said it had also suspended international flights to India between March 17 and 31, 2020, and to the Philippines between March 21 to 31, 2020, following the respective governments' ban on travel to and from Malaysia.
Prior to the movement control order, Malaysia Airlines suspended services to Saudi Arabia, South Korea as well as Beijing Daxing and Kota Kinabalu to Shanghai due to border controls.
It also reduced capacity to Australia and New Zealand due to the respective countries' self-isolation policy.
Meanwhile, the airline is facing added cost to its operations as it makes adjustments to adhere to the movement control order.
"The situation has been rather fluid these past two days since we have had to make last minute cancellations to abide by the restrictions.
"The uncoordinated approach has posed great challenges to our operations, but we are doing our best to re-route passengers via reallocation onto other carriers," said Malaysia Airlines group CEO Captain Izham Ismail in a statement.
He added that the airline is adjusting its low-load flights by cancelling and merging them to manage costs while managing customer expectations.
The airline has cancelled more than 4,000 flights to date.
Izham apologised for the anxiety that the flight changes may have caused its passengers, noting that the global contact centre has been handling up to 25,000 calls and 2,000 emails daily.
"I assure them that we are not here to take advantage of the situation – in fact we are one of few airlines that have offered unlimited flexibility in travel date change and waiver of certain fees," he said.
Noting that the ticket office in Nu Sentral is closed during the movement control order period, Izham encouraged passengers with bookings beyond the next 48 hours to make their booking changes online via the Covid-19 waiver assistance form on its website.
In a statement issued today, the airline said it had also suspended international flights to India between March 17 and 31, 2020, and to the Philippines between March 21 to 31, 2020, following the respective governments' ban on travel to and from Malaysia.
Prior to the movement control order, Malaysia Airlines suspended services to Saudi Arabia, South Korea as well as Beijing Daxing and Kota Kinabalu to Shanghai due to border controls.
It also reduced capacity to Australia and New Zealand due to the respective countries' self-isolation policy.
Meanwhile, the airline is facing added cost to its operations as it makes adjustments to adhere to the movement control order.
"The situation has been rather fluid these past two days since we have had to make last minute cancellations to abide by the restrictions.
"The uncoordinated approach has posed great challenges to our operations, but we are doing our best to re-route passengers via reallocation onto other carriers," said Malaysia Airlines group CEO Captain Izham Ismail in a statement.
He added that the airline is adjusting its low-load flights by cancelling and merging them to manage costs while managing customer expectations.
The airline has cancelled more than 4,000 flights to date.
Izham apologised for the anxiety that the flight changes may have caused its passengers, noting that the global contact centre has been handling up to 25,000 calls and 2,000 emails daily.
"I assure them that we are not here to take advantage of the situation – in fact we are one of few airlines that have offered unlimited flexibility in travel date change and waiver of certain fees," he said.
Noting that the ticket office in Nu Sentral is closed during the movement control order period, Izham encouraged passengers with bookings beyond the next 48 hours to make their booking changes online via the Covid-19 waiver assistance form on its website.
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