Malaysian puts luxury upfront
The delivery of its first A380 this week will give Malaysia Airlines the impetus to refresh its strategy to attract premium class travellers.
MAS recently aborted a planned equity swap with budget carrier AirAsia and will now go its own way in search of improving yields and boosting its bottom line.
MAS will fit its A380s with 494 seats. The eight first-class units, located on the lower deck, are claimed to be wider than any seats listed on comparison website seatguru.com.
The planes will have 66 business-class seats on upper floors and 420 economy seats divided between the two decks.
"Malaysian Air has to improve on their premium services in order to be able to compete," said Joshua Ng, an analyst at RHB Research Institute in Kuala Lumpur.
"There is a bit of national pride involved as well – especially when you’re talking about competing with Singapore Airlines."
Malaysia Airlines has ordered six A380s and becomes the eighth operator of the super jumbo.
It will start flights with the plane on July 1 to London. Flights to Australia will be added as more of the planes enter service,
Ian Jarrett
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