Malaysia

he PM has approved the Miri Airport expansion, noting that the usage had increased by almost 90% YoY

Capital A’s CEO said they will introduce mandatory carbon fees on air travel across all AirAsia’s operations from Jan 2025. He said they are in discussion with authorities from Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Cambodia to get approval

With the resumption of AirAsia’s direct flights from Kunming to Sabah, there are direct flight services to 10 cities in China to Sabah. AirAsia will launch Shantou and Kaohsiung services to Sabah. The airline also will launch the HCMC-Kota Kinabalu route in Dec. State Assistant Tourism Minister said they are looking to explore new markets like Vietnam, India, Central Asia, and planning to resume direct flights from Australia. He said with Nusantara development underway, Sabah need to build a strong hub portfolio to capture every market

Capital A’s CEO said their maintenance business, Asia Digital Engineering Sdn Bhd (ADE), can potentially become as valuable as AirAsia in a short time. ADE’s 14-line aircraft maintenance hangar is the largest in Southeast Asia. ADE is planning to add another 14 lines and is in discussion with Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd for 10 new lines

Deputy Transport Minister said the shortage of flights to and from Labuan is due to the load factor. He said the Ministry approved additional flights but the final decision will be made by the airlines

Batik Air launched a weekly flight between Kunming-Penang from 24 Sep

AirAsia X (AAX) issued a circular to its shareholders to offer an in-depth view of the proposed acquisition of Capital A Berhad’s aviation business in AirAsia Aviation Group Limited (AAAGL) and AirAsia Berhad (AAB) for RM6.8 billion

AirAsia is expecting the supply chain issues in the aviation industry will be solved by the end of 2024

AirAsia X will be the Official Airline Partner for the Qazaqstan Final Cup and Final Cup League in Kazakhstan

AirAsia will increase flight frequency by 2,000 additional weekly flights and 150,000 seats in 40 key domestic routes by the end of 2024. With this, AirAsia will have 64% of market share in the domestic market and will increase group revenue by 20%. AirAsia Malaysia's Managing Director said there will be 1.7 million seats available for booking by Dec 2024

AirAsia has been named the world’s best low-cost airline for the 15th consecutive year by the 2024 World Airline Awards by Skytrax. The airline also ranked 30th in the list of the world’s best airlines. Malaysia Airlines ranked 39th in 2024, up from 47th in 2023. The top 3 airlines are Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, and Emirates

Wego, a travel app popular in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region will work with Malaysia Airlines to allow users to book flight tickets through Wego

Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG) said its Chairman, Tan Sri Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin, had relinquished his position on 20 Sep

Malaysian Aviation Commission (MAVCOM) said 8.7 million air passengers were recorded in Malaysian airports in Aug 2024, +12.7% YoY but -1.5% MoM. MAVCOM said domestic air passenger traffic in Aug 2024 recorded 4.2 million, 48.6% of the total passengers, -1.3% MoM but +2.2% YoY and 84.7% of pre-pandemic levels. MAVCOM reported 4.5 million international air travellers, +1.7% MoM and +24.7% YoY and 96.1% of pre-pandemic levels in Aug 2024, 51.4% of total passengers which includes 2.3 million international non-ASEAN regions, +34.6% YoY, and 2.2 million ASEAN passengers. MAVCOM said major airports recorded positive growth in air passenger traffic YoY: - Kuala Lumpur International Airport, +20.1% YoY - Penang International Airport, +11.9% - Langkawi International Airport, +8.3% - Senai International Airport, +4.4% - Kota Kinabalu International Airport, +9% - Kuching International Airport, +25% YoY From Jan-Aug 2024, 64.1 million passengers were recorded with international passengers accounting for 51.4% and domestic traffic at 48.6%

AirAsia announced a partnership with Airbus to research aviation sustainability initiatives to lower carbon emissions in the ASEAN region. The sustainability division of both AirAsia and Airbus signed an MoU to explore decentralised production of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and to improve air traffic management (ATM) to reduce CO2 emissions. AirAsia currently have 361 units of the A321 model aircraft and by 2035 aircraft upgrades are expected to reduce AirAsia’s CO2 emission by 10% compared to 2019 levels. Operational efficiencies and SAF are expected to deliver a 15% reduction and the airline is aiming for net zero by 2050. In 2023, AirAsia avoided 130,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions by implementing 20 operational efficiency measures equivalent to planting 2 million trees and saved the airlines $40 million USD in fuel costs and $388,000 USD in shadow carbon costs

Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad gave clearance to AirAsia X to convene an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) in 3 weeks to move towards the aviation acquisition of AirAsia Aviation Group Limited and AirAsia Berhad to form a new aviation group

Air India will offer daily direct flights between Kuala Lumpur and Delhi from 15 Sep. Air India appointed Oscar Travel Services as its passenger general sales agent (GSA) in Malaysia

Malaysia Airlines said India is a crucial market for growth and they are looking to increase frequencies to Trivandrum and Ahmedabad while exploring new destinations. Malaysia Airlines operates 71 weekly flights to India and recently increased flight frequency to Amritsar from 4 flights to 7 flights per week

Malaysia Airlines will cooperate with Sabre PRISM to leverage real-time, automated data insights and trends to offer services to its business customers

The Social Protection Contributors Advisory Association Malaysia (SPCAAM) said Malaysian employers should increase efforts to attract and retain workers to prevent staff losses following a few technical staff of Malaysia Airlines’s engineering unit leaving to join SIA Engineering Co Ltd (SIAEC)

MIDF Research said passenger traffic in Malaysia’s aviation industry will face delays in recovery due to recent flight delays and cancellations attributed to aircraft delivery delays and parts and labour shortages. Malaysian Aviation Group (MAG) recorded 85% of seat capacity in H1 2024 with an average load factor recorded at 79%. Passenger traffic in Jul 2024 reached 92%

Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG) expects its financial performance in 2024 will be affected by the 20% capacity cut. But it noted that MAG made the decision to ensure the safety of the airlines’ passengers. MAG’s Managing Director said 14-15 planes are on the ground due to maintenance works and the planes will be brought back into service from 2025

Aviation industry players questioned Khazanah Nasional’s decision to lease 2 hangers at Subang Airport to SIA Engineering Company (SIAEC) instead of local companies. The said local MRO companies' application to lease hangers was rejected. Among the affected were Asia Aerotechnic Sdn Bhd, Raya Airways, Japan’s Kawasaki Robotics, and Germany’s Lufthansa Technik

AirAsia welcomed the inaugural flight from Lucknow to Kuala Lumpur on 14 Sep. AirAsia will fly 3 times a week on this route

Tony Fernandes has called for more clarity from SIA Engineering Co Ltd (SIAEC) on its recruitment of Malaysia Airlines Bhd’s (MAB) engineering staff, asking if only 10% of its staff came from MAB, then where did the 90% come from. He noted that whilst he supported SIAEC to come to Malaysia, he is frustrated that AirAsia Singapore has still not been approved and called for Singapore to “stop protecting its markets and have real competition”

Malaysia Airlines and Maybank will partner with Manchester United as an official commercial airline partner and global financial services partner to improve their brand presence throughout the region

Kuala Lumpur was ranked as the OAG Megahub most connected airport in Asia Pacific for low-cost flights offering 14,583 low-cost connections (LCC) across 137 destinations

AirAsia joined Heart Aerospace’s Industry Advisory Board to help promote the future of regional electric aviation

AirAsia will launch the Kota Kinabalu-HCMC route from 3 Dec with 3 flights per week. Tourism Malaysia targets to attract 475,000 Vietnam tourists in 2024

Ikhlas.com will sponsor Malaysian Paralympians who won medals at the Paris Paralympics Games 2024 with Umrah and a travel package to South Korea worth RM100,000

Malaysia Airlines will introduce carbon credits from the Kuamut Rainforest Conservation Project in Malaysia. This will be certified under the Verra Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS) and it expected to cut emissions by 500,000 tonnes of CO2e annually

Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) will celebrate Malaysia’s 67th Independence Day and Malaysia Day with events to celebrate Malaysia’s culinary heritage until 20 Sep. The ‘Warisan Kulinari Kita’ event will be held at Departure Hall at Level 5, KLIA Terminal 1

AirAsia is looking to expand its fleet from 79 to 92 aircraft in Malaysia by the end of 2024. AirAsia Aviation Group’s Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer (airline operations) said with 92 aircraft, AirAsia could fill in key routes to Sabah, Sarawak, China, Indonesia, and Thailand. He said they have no immediate plans to retire aircraft in 2025 and 2026. He said flight disruptions are a widespread issue affecting all airlines even though local airlines are in the spotlight right now. He also said climatic factors such as bad weather are affecting flight operations. He said AirAsia, in compliance with the government regulations, will review its existing refund policy. AirAsia is preparing for a surge in passenger traffic in conjunction with the ASEAN Summit in 2024