SEPANG: Malaysia Airlines Bhd is expected to add up to 50 per cent capacity to its network with 150 flights per day by December this year from the current 60 per cent.
Chief operating officer Ahmad Luqman Mohd Azmi said the gradual increase for the national carrier's capacity would be dependent on the improvement of the Covid-19 cases in the country.
He said the 50 per cent projection of MAB's flight capacity would be based on the data before the pre-Covid-19 crisis with a total of 300 flights per day.
"However, we are very cautious about adding capacity and frequency as things are very fluid at the moment," he told the New Straits Times (NST) in an interview recently.
Ahmad Luqman said Malaysia Airlines could operate close to 70 per cent of its network capacity by mid-2021 on condition that most countries have lifted their travel restrictions and borders.
Malaysia Airlines currently operates between 10 and 15 flights for international destinations including three flights to the United Kingdom (per week), different cities in Australia as well as Bangkok and Singapore.
Some of its wide-body aircraft in active service include A350 (two units) and A330 (seven units) for the long-haul and medium-haul international destinations.
On the domestic front, the airline operates 22 units of B737 aircraft with up to 35 daily flights.
Most in-demand destinations include from Kuala Lumpur to Kuching, Kota Kinabalu and Penang.
It has a total fleet of 80 aircraft comprising the A380 (six units), A350 (six units), A330 (21 units) and B737 (47 units). Of this, 40 per cent - which is mainly narrow-body - has been grounded or in long-term parking.
Ahmad Luqman said this ensures the aircraft would be ready to fly when the market recovers.
"We are doing repair and maintenance on regular intervals. This includes regular disinfecting the aircraft to ensure safety of all passengers and crew onboard. The crisis provides us an opportunity to refurbish our cabin interior.
"We are not always getting our aircraft available for us to do refurbishment. All this while, we have to wait about two years for the aircraft to get C-check maintenance," he said.
Malaysia Airlines said it would need to have a balance maintenance cost in preparing its fleet of aircraft before the customers return.
"This is being done by maintaining our aircraft in great conditions for better customers experience inline with our 'Malaysian Hospitality' motto," said Ahmad Luqman.
he said the airline would work closely with the government to promote travel bubbles.
"Our role is to facilitate travel and ensure connectivity is safe," he said.
On the outlook for commercial airlines, he said Malaysia Airlines was quite bullish on the domestic demand. This would help the airline weather the crisis, amid the ongoing travel restrictions for certain international destinations.
"We have been gradually increasing our flight capacity with the load factor surged almost 500 per cent post the Movement Control Order (MCO). Hence, we are confident that there are some lights despite the crisis. We focus on customer's needs and experience as that is our centre of gravity," he said.
Meanwhile, the airline's cargo arm has been performing strongly with "tremendous" increase in cargo demand with the utilisation of its air freighter and passenger aircraft.
According to the International Air Transport Association's (IATA) latest report, the global passenger traffic was projected that it would not return to pre-Covid-19 levels until 2024.
However, the recovery in short-haul travel was expected to happen faster than for long haul travel.
IATA urged governments to work together to urgently find ways to re-establish global connectivity by re-opening borders and to continue with relief measures to sustain airlines during the Covid-19 crisis.
The association's call had reflected the industry frustration as government policies such as closed borders, travel restrictions and quarantines continue to impede travel demand.
"Airlines have been largely grounded for a half-year. And the situation is not improving. In fact, in many cases, it is going in the wrong direction.
"We see governments replacing border closures with quarantine for air travellers.
Neither will restore travel or jobs. Worse, governments are changing the entry requirements with little notice to travellers or coordination with their trading partners. This uncertainty destroys demand," said IATA director general and chief executive officer Alexandre de Juniac.
He said 10 per cent of the global economy was sustained by travel and tourism. Hence, he said governments should do better to re-start their economies.
-nst online.
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