Customer Confidence Returns to MAB With 22% More China Passengers YTD

22nd Mar 2016

The worst is over for Malaysia Airlines now and the Malaysian national carrier is now seeing some of the lost passenger confidence in it slowly, but steadily returning. A good indication of this is that MAB has carried 22 per cent more passengers from China YTD (year to date) compared to the same period in 2015.

Malaysia Airlines Berhad Head of Marketing Charles McKee took the opportunity on Tuesday to talk about this during the company’s launch of the new business class seats for the Airbus A330-300 fleet. Mr McKee said to the gathered media:

We believe the worst is over. For example China – our customers from the country are up 22 per cent this year from last year. So we are seeking the market traction is coming back.

MAB Head of Marketing did not reveal how many passengers the carrier has flown from China so far in 2016, but did say that, because the number is definitely bigger than last year. This, he said, is in good part thanks to the better user experience. Because of this, McKee said, Malaysia Airlines Bhd is looking to upgrade its premium product by investing more resources in it.

Speaking about MAB premium products, McKee added:

That does not mean that we will focus only on premium products, it is just that our economy products are already strong.

MAB Launches New Business Class Seats for A330-300s

During the event, Malaysia Airlines also announced cabin refurbishment plans for its Airbus A330-300 fleet and the launch of the new Business Class seats.

The new Business Class seats will be introduced to all A330-300s MAB currently has, with the last plane’s cabin being refurbished in September this year.

Chief commercial officer at Malaysia Airlines Bhd Paul Simons explained the airline has decided to make this move as it believed there is still a lot it can do to improve its product offerings, in particular for its business class onboard.

The first plane to have the new Business Class seats will be flight MH141, which is scheduled to fly from Kuala Lumpur to Sydney this Wednesday, 23^rd March. Afterwards, passengers will also be able to enjoy the new seats while traveling between Kuala Lumpur and Australia, China, India, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea.