Speaking at the Strategy Summit, Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAB) Chief Executive Officer Peter Bellew said that he believes MAB could break even by the fourth quarter (4Q) of 2017 and to be profitable for a full year in 2018.
The former Ryanair exec also said that the “Olympic goal” is to get the Malaysian flag carrier relist on the Malaysia stock exchange by March 2019.
Mr Bellew said in his Strategy Summit keynote:
It’s an achievable date we believe, but it’s a highly ambitious date and a stretched target.
MAB to Launch Up to Seven New Routes over the Year
MAB CEO also revealed that the airline will launch up to seven new routes over the year and will not have to buy new planes to achieve that goal. The carrier will be able to do this thanks to the utilization of its narrow-bodied fleet from the current 10 hours to 12 hours, giving it the capacity of six extra narrow-bodied planes.
Mr Bellew said:
We got to get those out of the system, redeploy them to China, Japan and Korea. That’s where our growth markets are.
He also pointed out that, unlike narrow-bodied aircraft, Malaysia Airlines is short on their wide-body counterparts. Bellew added that he is confident of deploying 3-4 additional Airbus A330-300s overnight to China and Japan and get those routes “profitable immediately”.
Speaking about the six Airbus A380s the national carrier is planning to phase out in 2018, Bellow said MAB will have to be “a bit more imaginative” on how it markets them.
Malaysia Airlines Launches Special Penang Offer for UK Passengers
Meanwhile, MAB has launched a new offer, targeting UK passengers this time. Namely, the Malaysian carrier offers UK travelers the chance to visit Penang, aka “The Pearl of the Orient” and an UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Capital City for a special price of £479 or RM2590 on return flights.
Those interested in visiting Malaysia can book a flight between now and 15th October this year via their local travel agent or by visiting malaysiaairlines.com.
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