MASWings

MAS adjusts short-haul strategy again as plans for separate premium brand are dropped

Malaysia Airlines (MAS) has dropped plans to establish a new short-haul premium brand, which was slated to take over the carrier’s regional routes and had been a major component of its new business plan. The ongoing restructuring at MAS, which is aimed at restoring profitability at the flag carrier by next year, will now focus primarily on the long-haul operation. By and large it will be business as usual for the flag carrier’s short-haul operation although it will still be separated out as a new division. As part of this separation, MAS will stop entirely the use of widebodies on short-haul routes, which is a common practice in Asia where regional routes are often thick enough to support large aircraft that otherwise sit idle between long-haul flights.

The reversal of last year’s decision to establish a new company and brand for the full-service short-haul sector, under what MAS had called Project Sapphire, raises some questions about the long-term viability of the group’s short-haul operation. But rapid renewal of the MAS narrowbody fleet, network adjustments and anticipated coordination with AirAsia could still lead to the financial improvements required for the new short-haul division to become profitable.

Turning the industry on its head: AirAsia joins Malaysia Airlines

A historic tie-up between AirAsia and Malaysia Airlines (MAS), which would have been unthinkable just a few years ago, could lead to unprecedented consolidation in Asia and other major strategic movements across the region’s rapidly evolving airline industry. In the volatile and high growth Asia Pacific region, a move of this nature typically guarantees a host of flow-on impacts on the plans of other airlines and partnerships. Often there is no broad strategy behind each new move, as the airlines react to local circumstances, but other players are quick to re-assess the opportunities and whole new permutations arise.