12th March, 2013
MAS ups its global network capacity.
Malaysia Airlines (MAS) is increasing its capacity to the
routes across its network through additional flights and bigger capacity
aircraft for the Northern Summer operating pattern effective March 31, 2013.
In a statement today, group chief executive officer, Ahmad
Jauhari Yahya, said the capacity increase was made possible as MAS had taken
delivery of an average one 160-seater 737-800 aircraft per month, two more
494-seater A380 and four 283-seater A330-300 aircraft this year.
He said the capacity increase was an integral aspect of MAS'
Business Plan and the commitment to improve air connectivity within Malaysia as
well as leverage on Asia-Pacific where the demand outlook was strong. "We
are confident that our improving fleet size will continue to drive revenue and
loads and our return to profitability," he said.
Apart from the Kuala Lumpur-Paris return route that saw a
weekly capacity increase of 1,484 seats in each direction with the 494-seater
A380 replacing the 282-seater B777-200 from March 1, 2013, the upward capacity
changes focus on matching air traffic volume in Asia-Pacific that is expected
to see strong growth in 2013 as cargo recovers.
From March 31, 2013, the KL-Manila route weekly frequency
will be increased from 25 to 28 B737-800 services with the additional flights operating on Monday,
Friday and Sunday. With the introduction of the three weekly services, this
route's capacity is increased by 12 per cent (480 seats) in each direction.
Effective the same day, the daily Boeing 737-800 return
frequencies of the airline's KL-Yangon and KL-Colombo routes will also be
increased to ten weekly. The three new weekly services for Yangon will be
operated on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday, while the similar services for Colombo
will be operated on Monday, Thursday and Saturday.
Meanwhile from Apr 1, 2013, a new daily B777-200 service
will be introduced on the KL-Dhaka route, making it double daily wide-body
operations between Malaysia and Bangladesh, with capacity also increased 100
per cent from that date.
The present daily B777-200 and twice daily B737-800 return
flights for KL-Denpasar (Bali) will also have a daily capacity increase by 20
per cent when one of the daily B737-800 service is replaced by B777-200 service
effective April 1, 2013.
The five times weekly A330-300 daily service for KL-Brisbane
route will be increased to daily flights effective June 17, 2013, adding 566
seats in each direction, representing a 40 per cent capacity increase.
Capacity on the KL-Bandar Seri Begawan will be increased by
11 per cent with the existing four weekly B737-400 services replaced by
B737-800 flights effective August 15, 2013.
On the Peninsular Malaysia services, the present 42 B737 weekly
KL-Langkawi services will be increased to 49 effective June 15, 2013. The
KL-Johor Bahru sector, currently served by 27 weekly B737 flights, will be
increased by a further five weekly B737-800 flights effective July 15, 2013.
The KL-Kuching route will see the current 49 weekly B737
services gradually increased to 77 weekly services by August 15, 2013. This
will be through the mounting of 19 weekly services effective March 31, 2013,
eight weekly services from July 15, 2013 and once weekly service from August
15, 2013.
Similarly the KL-Kota Kinabalu route will also be improved
from the current 68 weekly B737 services to 82 weekly services by July 15,
2013.
The KL-Miri route, due to an increase in demand, will see
the introduction of 11 additional B737 frequencies with a daily service
effective April 15, 2013, thrice weekly service effective July 15, 2013 and
once weekly service effective
August 15, 2013.
To cope with similar increased demand, the present seven
weekly B737 services for KL-Tawau will be increased by another daily service
from June 15, 2013. From the same day, the present 14 weekly KL-Labuan B737
service will be increased by another six weekly B737 services to make it 20
weekly flights. - Bernama
Copyright@The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad
