Malaysia Airlines eyeing higher contribution from charter services

KELANA JAYA: Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAB), which on Thursday signed a one-year agreement with ATS Global Travel and Charter Sdn Bhd to provide umrah charter services, is eyeing higher revenue contribution from its charter services segment.
The charter segment currently contributes 5%-6% to the airline’s overall turnover, of which 70% of the division’s income is from its umrah and haj business.
Speaking to reporters after the signing ceremony here, MAB CEO Peter Bellew said he expects growth in revenue from charter services to rise to 10%-11% in the next few years, as he anticipates growing demand from passengers travelling to perform their pilgrimage.
Under the agreement with ATS, MAB will provide 46 charter flights using its Airbus A380 aircraft, which can accommodate up to 486 passengers.
Earlier, Bellew said this will be the airline’s primary focus over the next 12 months, adding that it is targeting 15 million passengers this year, from 13.9 million passengers in 2016.
The first flights from Kuala Lumpur International Airport to Medina and Jeddah are expected to depart on Nov 16 and Nov 26, 2017 respectively.
Bellew said the national airline should have more widebody planes next year, citing plans to add six more widebody aircraft in the first and second quarter of next year. Some of them will be available for charter services.
Commenting on its financial performance this year, Bellew said MAB is on track to be profitable in 2018, as he expects its performance will be much better in the second half of the year compared with the first half.
“It is kind of a season in Malaysia ... the second half of the year is always much better for us than the first half. The first quarter (for the airlines) around the world has been very tough. Second quarter is also tough, but we see the third and fourth quarter as much more promising,” he said.
The airline’s first quarter performance was impacted by higher fuel prices and unfavourable foreign exchange. Nevertheless, the number of passengers carried grew almost 13% year-on-year to 3.57 million, compared with the same quarter last year.