Malaysia Airlines Announces Summer Network Expansion

After announcing plans to cuts some of its loss-making routes earlier this month, Malaysia Airlines has now revealed growth in frequencies to several ASEAN destinations for the Northern Summer schedule as well as changes to its flights to Beijing, Taipei and Los Angeles. The changes are part of the carrier’s revised Business Plan that was revealed in December 2011 to focus on the main growth markets across the world.

In the regional market a third daily flight will be introduced between Kuala Lumpur and Manila from March 25, 2012, while frequencies between Kuala Lumpur and Phnom Penh will increase from nine a week to eleven from March 25, 2012 and up to 14 from May 1, 2012. In the Indonesian market an additional two Kuala Lumpur – Jakarta rotations will operate during summer 2012, increasing overall frequencies between the two capitals to 42 a week, while Medan, the capital of the North Sumatra province in Indonesia, will see an additional Friday service, increasing its schedule to double daily. In Thailand an additional Sunday rotation between Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok will mean the route will be flown four times daily.

Further afield, a new evening Boeing 777-200 flight will operate from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing every day offering an additional 1,974 seats per week to the Chinese capital. This service will complement the existing morning departure providing additional travel options for passengers.

Malaysia Airlines will also revert back to serving Los Angeles via the Japanese capital Tokyo, a route it previously served until 2002. The carrier currently offers three weekly flights to the western US city from Kuala Lumpur via Taipei Tayouan, but from March 25, 2012 it will re-route the service via Tokyo Narita, at the same time introducing a fourth weekly rotation. Due to the changes, Malaysia Airlines will also increase its existing Kuala Lumpur – Taipei service from four times weekly to a daily schedule.

There is certainly a much stronger demand between Tokyo and Los Angeles than between Taipei and Los Angeles (24,000 versus 15,000 O&D passengers in the past year), but Malaysia Airlines will also face a lot more competition with All Nippon Airways (ANA), American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Japan Airlines (JAL), Korean Air, Singapore Airlines and United Airlines already offering a daily link. However, despite the competition the yield between Tokyo and Los Angeles is stronger than between Taipei Taoyuan, particularly important when you bear in mind that Malaysia Airlines’ average air fares on the Transpacific flight from Taipei are around 24.0 per cent lower than the market average.

Meanwhile, Malaysia Airlines has announced it will operate an additional 32 flights into China over a two week period at the end of January to cater for the additional demand during the Chinese New Year holidays. Between January 17, 2012 and February 1, 2012 it will use 144-seat Boeing 737-400s to provide 14 frequencies between Kuala Lumpur and Sibu; seven between Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu; six between Kota Kinabalu and Taipei and three rotations between Kota Kinabalu and Hong Kong. A 294-seat Airbus A330 will also be used to operate two flights between Kuala Lumpur and Kunming.

The airline says the additional flights will enable more Malaysians to return home or to take the opportunity to go on a short holiday during the festive season. It says it will “continue to monitor the situation” and could add more capacity on sectors where there is further demand.