India an important market, looking to expand biz: Malaysia Airlines

Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia Airlines is keen to expand its operations into India, which is a "very important market", according to a top airline official. The airline, which currently flies to nine Indian cities, is eyeing new destinations as well as looking to increase frequencies to Trivandrum and Ahmedabad. Part of the Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG), Malaysia Airlines operates daily flights to Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Amritsar, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kochi. It also has four weekly services from Ahmedabad and Trivandrum. "We continue to remain excited about the Indian market. It has been driven by robust economic movement," MAG's Group Managing Director Datuk Captain Izham Ismail told in an interview. "We aspire to expand more into India... that will happen only next year... India is a very important market," he said and added that it will look at expansion once it gets more aircraft.

Currently, Malaysia Airlines operates 71 weekly flights to India. The flights to Amritsar were increased from four per week to daily in August. The airline has a codeshare partnership with IndiGo and interline arrangements with Air India and Vistara. In the recent interview at Kuala Lumpur, Ismail said, "We have the appetite and desire to increase frequencies to Trivandrum, Ahmedabad and a few new destinations we are eyeing". The bilateral flying rights between India and Malaysia, based on the number of seats airlines from either side can operate, is mostly utilised for metro routes in India. So, Malaysia Airlines can have more services to non-metro cities in the country as there are no curbs due to the bilateral flying rights.

Meanwhile, the carrier has reduced its network till December in the wake of operational difficulties due to various factors, including supply chain constraints and manpower challenges. "We have issues with schedule reliability. We hope to put it in the past... in 2025, we will come out stronger and will continue to focus on India," Ismail said. According to him, IndiGo is a very ideal partner for the airline. They have a codeshare partnership. Codesharing allows an airline to book its passengers on its partner carriers and provide seamless travel to destinations where it has no presence.

An interline arrangement refers to a pact to issue and accept tickets for flights that are operated by the partner airline. When selling an interline ticket, the operating airlines' own flight numbers are used. MAG comprises three businesses -- airlines, loyalty and travel solutions, and aviation services. The airline segment has Malaysia Airlines, regional carriers -- Firefly and MASwings -- and AMAL, which provides Hajj and Umrah pilgrimage services. India is one of the world's fastest civil aviation markets.