Malaysia Airlines (MH, Kuala Lumpur International) is planning to place another order for 25 new-generation narrowbodies in 2024, most likely selecting additional B737 MAX, Chief Executive Izham Ismail told Bloomberg.

"Our future network requires 50 narrowbody aeroplanes, so we still have got space for 25. We have to make some decisions by next year," he said.

The Malaysian flag carrier's current narrowbody fleet comprises forty-four B737-800s and a further three transferred to regional/LCC subsidiary Firefly (FY, Penang). It has twenty-five B737-8s on order - the aircraft were initially ordered directly from Boeing but later replaced by a deal with Air Lease Corporation. The deliveries are scheduled to begin in early 2023 and continue through 2026.

Izham underlined that Malaysia Airlines was not interested in opportunistically adding any B737 MAX originally assigned to Chinese customers and recently put on the market by the manufacturer. He stressed that as the aircraft would have different cabin configurations, they would thus be inconsistent with the airline's own fleet.

Malaysia Airlines has yet to return to pre-COVID capacity - Izham said that it currently was at 76% and would reach 82% by the end of the year. The big hurdle for the airline was the ongoing closure of China, which accounted for 17% of Malaysia Airlines' capacity before the pandemic. The CEO said that the market could reopen in the second quarter of 2023.