Malaysia Airlines inks A350, A330neo lease deal with ALC

Lufthansa Technik's new technical and engineering services for temporary operational changes have garnered significant market interest and it is now working on the first A380-800 passenger-cargo conversion for an undisclosed customer. So far, the company's cabin modification team has received enquiries from more than 40 airlines and over 15 projects for different aircraft types are already in the implementation phase.

In its statement, the company said that securing the contract to complete an operational change of the first A380 was "a special highlight." In terms of trying to determine the customer, 15 airlines currently operate the double decker, according to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module. These are: Air France; ANA - All Nippon Airways; Asiana Airlines; British Airways; China Southern Airlines; Emirates; Etihad Airways; Hi Fly Malta; Korean Air; Lufthansa; Malaysia Airlines; Qantas; Qatar Airways; Singapore Airlines; and Thai Airways International.

"Over the past days, we have received strong interest from different airlines regarding our passenger to freighter service capabilities," explained...

Malaysia Airlines (MH, Kuala Lumpur Int'l) is planning to commence services from Kuala Lumpur Int'l to Kertajati in Indonesia, replacing its service to Bandung, which is around 70 kilometres away. Also known as Majalengka, the airport in West Java opened in 2018 and was hoped to relieve capacity issues at Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta, which is 150 kilometres away, but has so far struggled to attract services.

The Oneworld carrier will fly the two-hour and twenty-five-minute sector 2x weekly with its B737-800 fleet from June 22. The city pair from Kuala Lumpur to Bandung will now only be operated by Citilink (QG, Surabaya), once services are permitted to resume.

Last summer, Citilink's services from Kertajati to Surabaya and Jakarta were suspended, only for them to return in late November according to Flightradar24 ADS-B data. The flights were suspended again in early April 2020, as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. Garuda Indonesia (GA, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta) ended its services to the airport in July last year, operating its...

Malaysia's Minister of International Trade and Industry has suggested that a merger of Malaysia Airlines and AirAsia is being considered as an option to help save both carriers.

"That discussion took place last year, even before this pandemic came. But we need to continue the discussion," said Ali. "We need to see how best we can save those airlines, and it's not going to be a very simple answer. Things are very bad, the aircraft are not flying. We need to sit down and discuss how to address these issues," Mohamed Azmin Ali told The Straits Times.

Contacted for comment, a Malaysian Airlines spokesperson told ch-aviation: "Malaysia Airlines is of the opinion that solutions to address the industry over-supply situation and long-term sustainability need to be addressed holistically. Whilst mergers between airlines is one option, addressing the issues via regulations and policies should also not be ignored as it could just be as effective. Any merger proposal will need to take into account anti-competition regulations, and address the numerous implementation/integration challenges including the people aspects, and...