Malaysia Airlines to get its first Airbus A350-900 early December

Malaysia Airlines Bhd chief executive officer Peter Bellew says six units of the A350-900 would be leased from the Los Angeles based aircraft leaser Air Lease Corp under a 12-year programme.

TOULOUSE: Malaysia Airlines Bhd expects the first delivery of its A350-900 to be made in the first week of December this year.

Its chief executive officer Peter Bellew said six units of the A350-900 would be leased from the Los Angeles based aircraft leaser Air Lease Corp under a 12-year programme.

"We will have a 40 per cent reduction in operating cost for the direct flight to London compared to the A380," he told reporters at the A350 assembly line in Toulouse, yesterday.

He added that the operating cost reduction offers the airline a readability to be profitable on the London-Kuala Lumpur route.

"The A350 XWB(extra wide body) version is capable of accommodating 286 passengers with four different classes of cabin arrangements namely first class, business class, seats economy plus and economy class," he said.

He said the first four A350s will be catered for the London-Kuala Lumpur flight, replacing the super jumbo A380.

"We have yet to determine the destination for the remaining two of the A350s," he said.

Malaysia Airlines expects the six units of the A350-900 to all be delivered by June next year.

Bellew said the first A350 flight to London will be on January 15 next year.

According to Airbus, the first and business classes seats arrangement are supplied by Thompson Vantage, while the economy plus and economy by B/E Aerospace Pinnacle B.

The A350 is said to consume 25 per cent less fuel.

Source: New Straits Times | 12 October 2017