KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Airlines Bhd's (MAB) revenue per available seat kilometre (ASK) for the quarter ended Feb 29, 2016 improved 10 per cent year-on-year on the back of the route optimisation exercise.
In its quarterly progress update, the national carrier said the seat load factor was also showing improvements with over 350,000 passengers travelling with the airline during the Chinese New Year holiday.
It said on time performance (OTP) dipped in December 2015 due to adverse weather conditions and constraints in availability of aircraft, but it recovered to 85 per cent in February.
"On Feb 17, the airline hit a record 95 per cent punctuality across all flights with 100 per cent on domestic operations," MAB said.
Group Chief Executive Officer Christoph Mueller said the quarter was challenging but the airline was pleased to see continued progress in all key areas such as OTP and costs.
"MAB has been operating for six months now and although we have a long way to go and areas for improvement, we are making steady progress in the restructuring," he said.
During the quarter under review, MAB began its global aviation partnership agreement with Emirates Airlines, which saw both carriers placing its codes on the Kuala Lumpur-Dubai route, as well as other routes under the agreement.
The first phase of the agreement would see 11 destinations introduced, including Rome, Paris, Madrid and Frankfurt, with the rest being added progressively over the next few months.
Once completed, Malaysians would have access to over 30 destinations in Europe, Middle East, Canada, and Africa.
Furthermore, it said the partnership with Emirates would contribute to its fleet consolidation and enable it to retire the B777-200s completely, allowing MAB to drive down complexity in maintenance, engineering and flight operations.
MAB had ordered four brand new Airbus A350-900s aircraft, which would be able to operate non-stop from Kuala Lumpur to London and throughout Asia, with deliveries to start in October 2017.
"The airlines' A380s are due for scheduled maintenance at the beginning of the second quarter of this year, which means that an average of one A380 aircraft being out of commission for the remainder of 2016.
"In anticipation of this, the airline is exploring reinstating a former flagship aircraft to ensure minimal interruptions on the London route," the airline said.
To ensure convenience and improved connectivity for passengers, MAB planned to concentrate most of its operations at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport's (KLIA) main terminal.
This would translate into quicker connections for ASEAN passengers between international and domestic flights, thus improving flight connection times, providing faster and more reliable baggage transfer and ultimately ensuring better customer satisfaction.
Moving forward, MAB said to address skills gaps, the airline would explore joint ventures with established international organisations to provide training and specific skillsets.
"The airline has been working hard in closing the skills gap via the Malaysia Airlines Academy, whereby the newly revamped academy will ensure that future generations of leaders for the airline will be groomed entirely from within.
"To this end, MAB has recruited 20 management trainees towards building a talent pipeline as well as growing the aviation skillsets in Malaysia," it added.
Source: Bernama | 4 March 2016
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