WORLD ROUTES: Malaysia Airlines Adds Bangkok Capacity

Malaysia Airlines is to celebrate the 40th anniversary of its flight operations between Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok by introducing a fifth daily rotation on the route between the two capital cities. The new flight will be introduced from October 28, 2012 and will provide enhanced network connectivity for passengers flying between the two key regional centres.

The new rotation will be a late night departure from Kuala Lumpur and early morning return from Bangkok and will be operated using a Boeing 737-800 configured with 16 Business Class and 144 Economy seats. Alongside its four existing daily flights, Malaysia Airlines will offer a total weekly capacity of 5,568 seats in each direction, a 25 per cent growth from the 4,448 seats currently offered.

Malaysia Airlines is one of seven carriers that currently operate non-stop flights between Bangkok Suvarnabhumi International and Kuala Lumpur International, as the table below illustrates. This month it has an 18.0 per cent capacity share ranking it as the third largest operator on the route. Its growth will see it offer a similar number of seats to Thai Airways International.

In addition to the Bangkok services, Malaysia Airlines will continue with its twice daily 737-800 link between Phuket and Kuala Lumpur and also its codeshare operations with Bangkok Air on the Bangkok - Koh Samui (31 times weekly flights), Bangkok - Phuket (14 times weekly flights), Bangkok- Chiang Mai (14 times weekly flights), Koh Samui - Phuket (14 times weekly flights) and Koh Samui - Kuala Lumpur (daily flight) routes.