MAS to replace old fleet with new A330s (3786)

Malaysian Airline System Bhd will accelerate the exit of Boeing Co
wide-body jets from its fleet and look at ordering the upgraded A330
model announced by Airbus SAS yesterday, Chief Executive Officer Ahmad
Jauhari Yahya said.


The carrier’s nine remaining Boeing 747 jumbos are likely to be
stood down by the end of November rather than in March as planned
earlier, while its 777-200s will be gone within three years, Ahmad
Jauhari said in an interview at the Farnborough air show.


Malaysian Air will standardize its twin-aisle fleet on Airbus’s
A380 and the smaller A330, with an upgraded version of the latter
having sufficient range for a network where the longest route -- Kuala
Lumpur-London -- is only 12.5 flying hours, Ahmad Jauhari said. The
carrier has 15 A330s on order, about half of which have been delivered,
and options for 10 more which could be converted as upgraded models, he
said.


“We’ll be looking at Airbus’s announcement to see if it can do the
job of the 777s,” Ahmad Jauhari said. “We’d love to have new models
like the 787 or the A350, and maybe one day we will, but right now we
need to simplify the fleet and operate four types of plane instead of
maybe six or seven.”



Adding 400 nautical miles of range to the A330 will
allow it to fly around 6,000 miles, allowing non-stop service on routes
such as London to Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Whereas Airbus once
had to strengthen the wing to boost maximum takeoff weight, making a
plane heavier, it can now use the fly-by-wire computer system to adjust
the wing for higher loads.


Route Plan


Malaysian Air closed 1.8 per cent lower at RM1.11 in Kuala Lumpur
trading today. It’s dropped 15 per cent this year, underperforming a 6
per cent gain in the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Index.


The carrier’s 747s will be displaced from routes to London and Australia as it takes the first of six A380s.


One superjumbo is already in service to the U.K. capital and the
second, displaying this week at the Farnborough show, will join it in
mid-August to offer daily flights, Ahmad Jauhari said. Aircraft three
and four will operate to Sydney and Melbourne in October and November
and the fifth will be deployed to Tokyo.


The double-deckers are fitted out with 420 seats in economy class,
66 in business and eight in first. The CEO said that on reflection
another 20 or so seats could probably have been accommodated and that
this may be addressed in any future refit. The first-class cabin may
also be moved to the top deck to avoid premium clients having to exit
with coach passengers.


‘Serious Collaboration’


Malaysian Air will join the Oneworld alliance that includes British
Airways and American Airlines in November or early December after it
completes final preparations, Ahmad Jauhari said. BA owner
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA was formed as a holding
company to facilitate future mergers, and the Malaysia CEO said he,
too, views closer integration with other carriers as desirable.


“We are open to ideas,” the executive said. “Long-haul carriers
will have to start looking at serious collaboration. We see
consolidation in Europe right now and there is really only one set of
economic rules that every needs to follow.”


The parent company of Malaysian Air unwound a share-swap plan with
the owner of discount carrier AirAsia Bhd in May amid complaints from
unions, while talks on a planned partnership with Qantas Airways Ltd of
Australia failed in March.


Ahmad Jauhari said that Malaysian Air wants to complete a RM9
billion refinancing plan in the next few months. The company issued an
Islamic bond in June and benefited from a government issue via a
commercial special purpose vehicle, with remaining funds to be raised
from conventional borrowing.


The carrier is also reviewing its cargo and engineering units,
which must become profit centers to survive, he said. -- Bloomberg