Eaglexpress Air Charter (Kuala Lumpur International) is planning to restart operations later this year, the airline's president Azlan Zailan Abidin has said.
The ACMI/charter operator terminated operations in December 2016 after the Malaysian Aviation Commission (MAVCOM) revoked its Air Services Permit (ASP) citing the airline's poor financial standing at the time.
However, according to the Bernama news agency, Abidin told a press conference in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, this week that Eaglexpress Air Charter had secured USD100 million in funding and would submit an application for a new ASP next month, the first step in its recertification process.
Operationally, Abidin said Eaglexpress Air Charter would lease up to five second-hand aircraft - among them B777s, B747s, and A330s - from a third party. These would then be used to deployed on Hajj and Umrah charter flights, as well as cargo services.
"We will probably make the inaugural flight towards the end of the year, and hope to provide the Umrah and Hajj services too," he said. "In fact, we have been talking with Indonesian carrier Garuda Indonesia (GA, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta), and Biman Bangladesh Airlines (BG, Dhaka). Opportunity is abundant in this area."
The carrier will also consider entering the scheduled passenger services niche plying routes that Malaysia Airlines (MH, Kuala Lumpur International) has long since abandoned including Johannesburg O.R. Tambo/Cape Town International in South Africa, Buenos Aires Ministro Pistarini in Argentina, and Manchester International in the United Kingdom.
