Malindo Airlines
Malindo Airlines, the new budget airlines will be
starting in early 2013 from Malaysia and will offer passengers and travelers
cheap flights and seats which will be in direct competition with AirAsia,
Jetstar, AirAsia X, and Scoot in the region.
Malindo Air originally planned to start operation
on 1st May 2013 from the new KLIA2 terminal initially.
However, Malindo Air
has brought forward the launch date to mid-March 2013 with domestic
destinations, and will begin with domestic flights from Kuala Lumpur to Kota
Kinabalu and Kuching. Other destinations planned including India, Shenzhen,
Guang Zhou & Hong Kong.
Malindo Airlines – A New Airline in Malaysia
Malindo Air president director, Rusdi Kirana also told
the media and reporters that the name ‘Malindo’ came from the name of
respective countries: Malaysia and Indonesia.
Initial flights will connect East
and West Malaysia but Chandran declined to confirm whether the East Malaysian
points would be Kota Kinabalu and Kuching.
He also revealed that airlines the first international route will begin in either April or May to India, and is
targeting a fleet of 12 B737-900ER by December 2013.
The airline will also commence
operations with two B737-900ER aircraft in a two-class configuration (12
business seats and 168 economy seats), and will be equipped with Wi-Fi and
in-flight entertainment. There is also talk for an ATR-72 plane to be used in the beginning.
LCC Terminal is too congested currently. KLIA is also the point where Lion Air
flies to.”
He added that the airline would later move its base to KLIA2, which
is currently under construction and slated to open on May 1, 2013.
B737 aircraft on the fleet and the company is also planning to reach 100 planes over a ten-year
period of operation.
According to a report by The Star (Singapore), Lion Group
chief Rusdi Kirana said that the launch of its subsidiary, Batik Air, would be
delayed from March 2013 to end-2013 so as to focus on building Malindo Air to
become a regional player sooner.
will own 48.9 percent of the new airline, Malindo Airways, and Malaysia’s
National Aerospace and Defence Industries (NADI) the remaining 51.1 percent.
Lion Airways President Rusdi Kirana said Malindo Airlines will start flying
between the three countries with a fleet of 12 new Boeing 737 aircraft in May.
Rusdi said booking plane tickets airfares prices will be competitive for
Malindo Airlines, either in the same range as rival AirAsia or “even
smaller.”
The airline’s fleet of planes will be fitted with a lower-than-usual
150 seats coupled with inflight entertainment and light meals, he said. It aims
to offset lower revenue per plane due to fewer or lesser seats with higher
frequency flights.
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| The Malindo Air logo |
Competitor Jetstar Airline, which will receive its own Boeing 787s by 2014, already faces stiff
competition on international destinations from low-cost carrier AirAsiaX and
Singapore Airlines subsidiary Scoot Airline.
The new budget airlines entry into this the region can only mean cheaper airfares for travelers in the Asia Pacific and with this, travelers have
another option to choose from in the budget airline industry with a new player Malindo
Airlines.
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