Malaysia Airlines to commence operations from tonight

Adding its sixth destination in India, Malaysia Airlines will commence its operations on the Kochi-Kuala Lumpur route from tonight.
The airline is already connected to Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad.
"India is a big market for us and we have been achieving commendable growth," Azahar Hamid, Regional Senior Vice-President, South Asia and Middle East, told reporters here.
During last year, the Malaysian National carrier reported a 15 per cent growth from its India operations and till July this year it has already posted a 23 per cent growth, he said.
With Kochi having a good mix of business and leisure traffic, the airlines was hoping they would be achieving good results from the destination.

Malaysia also offers cheaper hotels and South India and Malaysia have ethnic ties, he added.

On competition from other airlines, especially low cost carrier Air Asia, he said "competition from Air Asia is not new to us. In Malaysia we have been facing the competition."
Through fleet rationalisation, costs have been reduced, helping the airline turnaround.
Malaysia Airlines has earned about Rs 500 crore last year from its Indian operations. There has been 90 per cent of seat occupancy from the region which was good, he said.
The airlines was looking at another 15-20 per cent growth during the year from India.

The airlines was also looking at some North Indian cities as there were further expansion plans, he said.
The airlines will be operating flights on route both ways using the 160-seater B737-800.
As part of the inaugural offer, from September 1 to November 30, the return fares would Rs 12,150 all taxes inclusive. Thanks to the Onam festival this month, between September 15-20, the flights were fully booked, he said.
The Airlines which had earlier confined its operations to late evening/night flight operations from Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad has now started venturing into mid-day departures, thus increasing the total frequency from 40x weekly services to 55x weekly services.

The Airlines is the only full service Malaysian carrier currently operating 55 weekly non-stop flights between India and Kuala Lumpur comprising 12 weekly flights each from New Delhi and Mumbai, 14 from Chennai, 10 from Bangalore and 7 from Hyderabad.