MoU to purchase eight 787-7 planes signed.
MAS’ new fleet:
- Six Airbus A350 ordered last year, expected to be delivered end 2017
- Earlier order of Boeing 737-Max 10 worth US$6.8b (RM28.56b) – a deal with a firm purchase of 25 planes and option to buy 25 more over next 5 years
- Latest order of eight 787-7 costing about US$2.5b(RM10.5b)
Malaysia Airlines (MAS) managing director and chief executive officer Peter Bellew has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Boeing to purchase eight 787-7 aircraft.
The signing of the document in Washington was witnessed by International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed in the presence of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
Bellew said the first of the ultra-long haul 787-9 planes was expected to be delivered by the third-quarter of 2019.
He added that the airline was looking at seven new long-haul routes, including Amsterdam which the national carrier had stopped a two ago.
The cost of the eight aircraft is about US$2.5 billion (RM10.5 billion) and the planes will have a luxurious layout.
“These aircraft will bring Malaysia Airlines back into five-star premium airline. We want to differentiate ourselves from the low-cost carriers.” Bellew said.
“This is part of the transformation that we have been working very hard for in the past 12 months of moving out from being a narrow body aircraft to wide body planes. We can now reach destinations we could not have done earlier, even the likes of the West Coast of the United States and North Asia where the yield is much higher,” said he added.
Together with the six Airbus A350 planes ordered earlier, MAS is expected to have a full fleet that can offer long-haul destinations non-stop.
The existing six Airbus A380 will be taken over by the new airline subsidiary that will operate the Haj flights from various destinations. According to Bellew, the new company was doing very well as there was high demand for flights.
The 787-9 planes are the second set of aircraft that MAS had ordered from Boeing.
Earlier this year, it had announced the purchase of the Boeing 737-Max 10, a deal which Bellew revealed was worth some US$6.8 billion (RM28.56 billion), as it was a firm purchase of 25 of the planes and with an option to buy 25 more over the next five years.