Malaysia Airlines to add Kochi, reinstate Dubai and Darwin routes soon

Going places: Jauhari (third from right) with air stewardesses and models at the press conference.

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia Airlines (MAS) will begin daily flights to Kochi, India, effective Sept 1 and is reinstating flights to Dubai and Darwin (Australia) as part of its aim to expand its regional network.

Group chief executive officer Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said the flights to Dubai and Darwin would be reinstated effective Aug 5 and Nov 1, respectively.

“Dubai provides us with connectivity to the Middle East, which is a growing market, while Kochi and Darwin are strong secondary markets that fit into our overall network (strategy),” he told a press conference yesterday.

He said MAS would be flying daily to Dubai and five times weekly to Darwin.

Effective last month, the national carrier also increased its number of weekly flights to Phuket, Kathmandu and Mumbai. From next month, it will be flying four times daily to Denpasar (Bali).

MAS commercial director Hugh Noel Dunleavy said each route the airline added or reintroduced into its network was also part of the company’s goal to improve its bottomline.

“We conduct the appropriate research (before adding a route) and every market MAS enters, it is done for commercial reasons to maximise profitability,” he said.

MAS widened its net loss for the first quarter to March 31, 2013 to RM278.8mil from RM171.8mil in the previous corresponding period on the back of a 13% increase in revenue to RM3.5bil.

The carrier’s yield decreased 5% to 24.2 sen per revenue passenger kilometre in its first quarter, despite passenger revenue rising 11% to RM2.47bil.

Dunleavy said MAS’ strategy going forward was to “offer the right price in the right market at the right time.”

“Our yields were down in the first quarter but that’s natural,” he said, adding that MAS would tweak the number of low-end versus high-end seats it was selling “depending on market conditions.”

Ahmad Jauhari said MAS would add more aircraft to its fleet as it expanded its destination network.

“We need to grow to make our presence relevant. As we add more destinations, we will add more aircraft.”

MAS has 120 aircraft currently. This year, it will take delivery of 24 new aircraft comprising 12 Boeing 737-800s, two Airbus A380s, four A330s and six ATR 72-600 turboprops.

-thestar online.