‘KL-Darwin route losing money for 10 years’
MALAYSIA Airlines Bhd (MAS) recently came under criticism in Australia’s Northern Territory for announcing the cancellation of its Kuala Lumpur-Darwin route, but chief executive officer Peter Bellew remains adamant that it had to be done.
He said Malaysia Airlines had been “losing a fortune” on the route for 10 years and it did not make sense for it to be maintained.
“It’s about flying smart. Malaysia Airlines should only be flying to places people want to go. I don’t think Malaysians have the patience to lose money anymore... there is absolutely no prospect of making any money in Darwin and it isn’t fair for Malaysians to be subsidising the holidays of people in Darwin.”
In contrast, said Bellew, travellers from China spent a lot more in Malaysia, including at duty-free shops at airports, so it made sense for Malaysia Airlines to focus on the Asian giant.
This is something the airline has done, with flights between Malaysia and 11 cities in China.
“People from Nanjing spend 10 times more in the duty-free (areas) than those from Darwin. So this is what needs to be done... the opportunity for Malaysia to benefit from more tourists from China is big.
“The Chinese absolutely love travelling to Malaysia... no other country in the world makes them feel more welcomed. And increasing routes to China opens up trade opportunities (for Malaysia) too,” he told NST Business in Paris.
Darwin is not the only route to be axed as Malaysia Airlines continues its rationalisation plan.
Bellew said four routes were on the “red list”, with flights to Australia and New Zealand, in particular, suffering.
One reason for this was the evolving levels in aircraft technology, he said.
Bellew said Qater Airways would be using the fuel-efficient Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
From Perth, travellers can fly to a host of destinations, including India, China and Europe.
“Our business from Perth would dry up. What am I supposed to do? Sit on my hands? No... (continuing loss-making routes) would be like flogging a (dead) horse.
“Time is not on my side. I would love to see Malaysia Airlines as an incredible success. If we close unprofitable routes, we can use the aircraft for more profitable ones.”
But it is not all doom and gloom. In the near future, Bellew wants Malaysia Airlines to expand the number of cities it flies to.
“The Chinese expansion is a no-brainer. And in the near fuap- ture, we will be looking at perhaps flying (to various destinations in) China from places like Penang, Kota Kinabalu and Kuching.
“There is also Japan, a growing destination for Malaysians.”
Bellew said he was looking at Europe again, but at this point in time, he just could not “make sense of the numbers”.
This was because Gulf carriers were aggressive in that particular continent, he said.
Bellew is happy with the progress Malaysia Airlines has been making so far under his leadership.
“We’re a lot better along than I thought we would be, to be honest. With all the difficulties Malaysia Airlines had been going through before this, the training programmes (for engineers) had to be stopped... but now we have started it up again. We recently had 118 people graduate and we are having another big intake soon.
“We can be an incubator for young engineers, and we don’t mind if they start working in the future for companies like Airbus or Boeing,” he added Leslie Andres –