MAS’ A380s FIND NEW LIFE ON HAJ, UMRAH TRIPS

LONDON: Malaysia Airlines’ (MAS) Airbus SE A380s are flying full-on trial services taking Muslim pilgrims to Saudi Arabia, prompting the carrier to say it will establish the operation as a new division as early as the end of this year.

The carrier had been using two of its six A380s to transport people headed to Mecca for the yearround umrah pilgrimage since November, said chief executive officer (CEO) Captain Izham Ismail.

The planes will ultimately be used for the haj gathering.

“I felt we needed to go to market fast,” said Izham, who inherited the proposal when he took over as CEO two months ago. “We’ve been flying these charters daily to Jeddah or Medina and we fill them up every day.”

Airbus, which broke a two-year sales drought with the A380 last week, is keen to see the Malaysia plan succeed as it pitches the model for new markets, and has agreed to convert the jets to as many as 700 seats from 498.

Izham said that would have to wait until 2020 when the A380s would be out of service for maintenance, and the current density might in any case be sufficient.

“The passengers who go to the umrah and haj are often the elderly, so we can’t cram them into a tin can.

“We can keep the current configuration and offer a product that’s superior to the current haj product. It’s a captive market, so we can move the pricing up a little bit.”

While flying to Saudi Arabia from Kuala Lumpur, the A380s have also carried groups originating in Indonesia, China and Bangladesh, booked via a network of travel agents.

Fares would still be lower than for a normal commercial ticket, though there was an appetite for business-class perks among some pilgrims that the current layout could address, said Izham.

The project, a brainchild of his predecessor Peter Bellew, has been named Amal, meaning “hope” in Arabic.

About one million people from the Asia-Pacific region make the trip to Mecca each year, with MAS typically carrying around 40,000. The carrier had secured 175 flights for this year’s haj, which would take place in August, compared with 120 last year, supported by prepaid bookings, he said.

The trial flights were operating under MAS’ own licence, but should be established as a standalone charter brand in the fourth quarter or early in next year, he said.

The operation would probably use four of MAS’ A380s, supplemented by smaller Airbus A330 twin-aisle models. Bloomberg

I felt we needed to go to market fast. CAPTAIN IZHAM ISMAIL Chief executive officer Malaysia Airlines Bhd