SEPANG: After a 20-year absence, Air France has returned to KL International Airport (KLIA) and now that it is here, it wants to explore areas of cooperation with Malaysia Airlines (MAS).
Its arrival yesterday could also trigger other carriers such as British Airways and Qantas to return to KLIA since global carriers are looking at Malaysia as a gateway to tap into the growing air travel market in Asia.
A meeting has been set between Air France chairman and CEO Alexandre de Juniac and MAS chairman Tan Sri Md Nor Yusof this evening even though both are now rival carriers on the KL-Paris route.
“I will meet the chairman of MAS (this) evening before leaving (for Paris) and we will see if there are areas where we can cooperate with MAS,'' De Juniac said in an interview. He did not elaborate on details but added that code-share/cooperation “is one of the topic of discussions and an obvious topic when two airlines (chiefs) meet.''
He was candid when he said that Air France was back to Malaysia because of “margins and traffic'' given the booming demand for air travel in Asia and Malaysia, “adding that to capture that traffic, some form of cooperation between airlines” (can help reduce cost and at the same time offer a wider network to travellers).
“We can capture a large part of the traffic in Asia in cooperation with Asian (airlines) including MAS and Chinese (carriers). We have to cooperate with them and we will explore the areas in which we can cooperate in. But I am also not in a hurry (though) I am very pragmatic,'' he said.
A code share is a common arrangement between airlines that ply on a similar route but in the case of Air France and MAS, there may be restrictions because both belong to different airline alliances. “The difficulty at this stage is that they (MAS) belong to oneworld and we belong to Skyteam, which are competing alliances, but it is not impossible that we could envisage something,'' he said. It may be possible if MAS asks its other oneworld members and an arrangement could be for a particular route, destination or traffic.
“I give you an example, we have strong cooperation with Japan Airlines and they are a member of oneworld ... so it is case-by-case approach and we have to explore all that,'' he said.
Air France is also part of the Air France-KLM airline group one of Europe's biggest airline group. Its sister airline KLM has been flying to Malaysia for the past few decades and has a code-share arrangement with MAS. Asked if that will continue, he said “that will continue as there are no reasons to terminate that code-share.''
The return of Air France marks a major milestone for Malaysia's aviation industry but it is not the only legacy carrier that has returned. Tomorrow, Turkish Airlines will return after a four-year absence and next week, Philippine Airlines will make a comeback after a decade's absence.
The question now is will the two carriers British Airways (BA) and Qantas that left over a decade ago also return? “The question is no longer about them returning but about how much they are missing out on the growth in Malaysia,'' said an analyst, who added that “sooner or later Qantas and BA will have to make a decision to return to tap the growth here.''
Air France will ply the KL-Paris route three times weekly using a B777, while MAS offers more seats on its A380 with daily flights.
At a press conference earlier, de Juniac said Air France expected to carry 30,000 passengers this year on the KL-Paris route as loads should be about 80% on that route. Last year, a total of 110,000 French tourists visited Malaysia. He said the strong bilateral ties, complemented by the growing economic development, as well as its attractiveness as a tourist destination, is a good proposition for Air France to use KL as a location to increase its presence in South-East Asia.
“The new route would also be synergised by the Kuala Lumpur-Jakarta run, operated by KLM, for travellers from France and Europe,” he added.
-thestar online.
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