Translate
21 October 2016
Malaysia Airlines is in talks to rent out its A380 superjumbos to religious travel groups for Haj and Umrah pilgrimages
MAS in talks to rent out A380s for pilgrim flights
Steady income: File picture of a Malaysia Airlines’ Airbus A380 at the KL International Airport. The airline is in talks to rent out its A380 superjumbos to religious travel groups for haj and umrah pilgrimages in a move likely to trim financial losses and dispel some recent gloom over demand for the huge jets. – Bernama
LONDON: Malaysia Airlines is in talks to rent out its A380 superjumbos to religious travel groups for Haj and Umrah pilgrimages, its chief executive said, in a move likely to trim financial losses and dispel some recent gloom over demand for the huge jets.
Malaysia Airlines has six of the world’s biggest jetliners but says the Airbus jet does not make economic sense for it at a time when it is cost-cutting as part of a restructuring. Past attempts to sell the planes have failed.
CEO Peter Bellew said the airline was in talks about a possible “wet lease” deal with a number of religious travel organisations that would hire Malaysia Airlines aircraft and crew to fly people on the haj and umrah pilgrimages.
The haj is an Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia and takes place once a year, with more than one million people travelling by air, while the umrah pilgrimage can be taken at any time of year.
Talks between Malaysia Airlines and the potential customers started about 10 weeks ago and Bellew, who took the CEO reins from Christoph Mueller in July, said he is confident of reaching an agreement before the end of December and that the planes would be used for eight months a year.
“I believe it will happen,” he told Reuters, adding that any deal would more than cover its A380 costs.
A deal to re-deploy the A380s would be a welcome development for Airbus, which was forced to announce a cut in production of the aircraft because of weak demand for large four-engined jets as airlines fretted about the global economy.
Many airlines say it is less risky and often cheaper to fly smaller two-engined jets that are easier to fill.
Though it usually focuses on selling new planes, Airbus is closely involved in trying to kickstart an alternative follow-on market for used A380s because an overhang of unwanted jets would depress resale values and make it even harder to sell new ones.
The fate of the Malaysian jets has been a source of market uncertainty for months.
Concerns over demand increased when Singapore Airlines announced last month that it would not renew a lease on the first A380 that went into service in 2007.
Others, including Air France and Qantas, have already balked at taking some undelivered new A380s, though Dubai’s Emirates remains a big fan of the jet.
To ease the transition, Malaysia Airlines is in discussions with Airbus about reconfiguring its A380s, which usually have 544 seats in three classes, to fit 700 people for the pilgrimages. Bellew said Airbus is open to the possibility.
Airbus said it was in daily contact with its customers but the details of any discussions would remain confidential.
Malaysia Airlines said in February that it had delayed plans to sell some of its A380s, and would now keep all six of them at least until 2018.
But the Kuala Lumpur-based carrier has been struggling since the disappearance of flight MH370 and shooting down of flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine, both in 2014.
The airline was taken private by state fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd after the disasters as part of a turnaround plan to shrink its network and cut its costs to try to return it to profitability by 2018. — Reuters
Popular Posts - Last 7 days
-
Maybank Singapore withdraws lawsuit against NFC chairman, children over housing loans Bernama Julai 12, 2022 Maybank Singapore Limited has...
-
Wan Saiful confirms he is no longer PTPTN chairman Bernama Julai 12, 2022 Bersatu Information chief Datuk Wan Saiful Wan Jan today confirm...
-
COVID-19: New cases in Malaysia take a slight dip again Melissa Fernando ASTRO AWANI Julai 19, 2022 12:00 MYT COVID-19: New cases in Malays...
-
Kedah MB: ECK no longer part of Kulim airport project Bernama Julai 13, 2022 Muhammad Sanusi announced that the ECK Group of Companies (EC...
-
Socso suspends RM423 million PenjanaKerjaya payments Bernama Julai 15, 2022 Socso chief executive officer Datuk Seri Dr Mohammed Azman Azi...
-
Naz Empire's defamation lawsuit against Awal Ashaari to go to trial as mediation fails Bernama Julai 12, 2022 The defamation lawsuit f...
-
No 10m Platform Medal But Pandelela & Dhabitah Are More Determined Than Ever Our hearts nearly leaped out of our chests when we heard...
-
Seven million Malaysians yet to take booster dose against COVID-19 - PM Bernama Julai 11, 2022 Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaako...
-
King presents appointment letters to four new envoys Bernama Julai 12, 2022 His Majesty presenting the letter of appointment to M'sian...
Popular Posts - Last 30 days
-
A man was stabbed to death by his lover who was a part-time model in an incident at a condominium unit in Kota Kemuning here on Monday. It i...
-
Paris court grants Malaysia's application to suspend claims by purported heirs of Sultan Jamalul Kiram II Bernama Julai 13, 2022 Dr Wa...
-
Motorcycle crash: Couple accept casualties to twin children as fate Bernama Julai 17, 2022 A couple lost a child while another suffered se...
-
Maybank Singapore withdraws lawsuit against NFC chairman, children over housing loans Bernama Julai 12, 2022 Maybank Singapore Limited has...
-
Wan Saiful confirms he is no longer PTPTN chairman Bernama Julai 12, 2022 Bersatu Information chief Datuk Wan Saiful Wan Jan today confirm...
-
Kedah MB: ECK no longer part of Kulim airport project Bernama Julai 13, 2022 Muhammad Sanusi announced that the ECK Group of Companies (EC...
-
MH17 tragedy: Dewan Rakyat expresses condolences to families of passengers, crew Bernama Julai 18, 2022 The Dewan Rakyat today marked the ...
-
COVID-19: New cases in Malaysia take a slight dip again Melissa Fernando ASTRO AWANI Julai 19, 2022 12:00 MYT COVID-19: New cases in Malays...
-
Malaysian Space Board to be fully launched early next year - Dr Adham Bernama Julai 18, 2022 The Malaysian Space Board will be fully launc...
-
Naz Empire's defamation lawsuit against Awal Ashaari to go to trial as mediation fails Bernama Julai 12, 2022 The defamation lawsuit f...
Blog Archive
-
►
2023
(3771)
- December (311)
- November (322)
- October (286)
- September (288)
- August (365)
- July (349)
- June (372)
- May (316)
- April (279)
- March (301)
- February (245)
- January (337)
-
►
2022
(4309)
- December (352)
- November (422)
- October (288)
- September (281)
- August (347)
- July (303)
- June (335)
- May (406)
- April (341)
- March (371)
- February (390)
- January (473)
-
►
2021
(9030)
- December (636)
- November (647)
- October (809)
- September (797)
- August (880)
- July (894)
- June (747)
- May (780)
- April (580)
- March (629)
- February (643)
- January (988)
-
►
2020
(6800)
- December (819)
- November (698)
- October (832)
- September (729)
- August (548)
- July (558)
- June (615)
- May (394)
- April (368)
- March (453)
- February (439)
- January (347)
-
►
2019
(4089)
- December (411)
- November (425)
- October (375)
- September (279)
- August (397)
- July (353)
- June (326)
- May (315)
- April (266)
- March (318)
- February (293)
- January (331)
-
►
2018
(4100)
- December (305)
- November (304)
- October (357)
- September (352)
- August (420)
- July (442)
- June (366)
- May (412)
- April (343)
- March (275)
- February (233)
- January (291)
-
►
2017
(3888)
- December (268)
- November (293)
- October (352)
- September (309)
- August (356)
- July (300)
- June (319)
- May (354)
- April (316)
- March (335)
- February (306)
- January (380)
-
▼
2016
(4563)
- December (331)
- November (328)
- October (378)
- September (415)
- August (404)
- July (380)
- June (310)
- May (370)
- April (430)
- March (484)
- February (355)
- January (378)
-
►
2015
(4588)
- December (402)
- November (392)
- October (393)
- September (375)
- August (450)
- July (392)
- June (456)
- May (407)
- April (408)
- March (374)
- February (262)
- January (277)