Malindo's Arrival Of Boeing 787-8 In 2015
Six-Hours Routes On Malindo's Radar With Arrival Of Boeing 787-8 In 2015
Malindo Air is set to fly to Middle East, north Asia and south Australia in 2015 after taking delivery of three to five Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner passenger jets two years from now.
Its chief executive officer, Chandran Rama Muthy, said the airline was looking at deploying the new aircraft on six-hour routes and has three regions in mind.
He said Malindo Air was waiting confirmation from its principal, Indonesia's PT Lion Grup of Indonesia, on the number of jets to be granted for use by it.
"We requested for five. We might get three initially while the other two will be given to Batik Air," he told reporters after the launch of its ticketing office at the SkyPark Terminal, Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport, here today.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner -- twin-aisle, wide body plane -- is said to be priced at US$200 million each.
Batik Air, also a Lion Grup's unit, currently flies Indonesian domestic routes.
On whether Malindo Air was concerned about the reported engine issues of Dreamliner, Chandran said, it was up to Boeing to resolve it.
"We are sure Boeing can solve it. We have confident in them," he said.
Chandran said the proposed routes in 2015 would be out of Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
He said the airline was also exploring possibilities to use the 787-8 Dreamliner to north China using Kota Kinabalu as a hub.
Chandran said the airline planned to expand its network in three phases -- domestic, five-hour radius routes and medium-haul routes.
Medium-haul routes are expected to have a radius range of eight to nine hours.
"We are currently in phase one. We want to establish a strong footprint domestically. We will fly all Peninsular Malaysia routes from the Subang airport in the first phase.
"Hopefully, we can step into the second phase somewhere in the second half of this year. I also want to reiterate that we wont fly long-haul flights," he said.
Bersama 30/05/2013