KUALA LUMPUR: MAB Kargo Sdn Bhd (MASkargo) had recently taken a bold move by utilising Malaysia Airlines Bhd's (MAB) biggest passenger aircraft, the A380 to London carrying only cargo.
The air cargo operator said flight MH04 departed Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) at 9.50am on last Tuesday with 26 tonnes of cargo, mostly loaded e-commerce goods originating from Guangzhou.
MASkargo chief executive officer Ibrahim Mohamed Salleh said the relief effort was an innovative and "beyond-the-box" approach on the company's part, citing that no other Airbus A380 equipped airline has done this.
"Our freighter's flying hours have been utilised to the maximum allowable due to humanitarian Covid-19 relief efforts and other business demands.
"When the freighters can no longer cope, we initially innovated via the passenger-to-cargo (P2C) project where we use our A330 passenger fleet to carry cargo," he said in a statement on last Friday.
Ibrahim said MASkargo had no choice but to utilise the superjumbo aircraft to meet customers' expectations, as the volume of cargo increasing coupled with lesser cargo capacity into Heathrow.
The originally scheduled A350 was unable to cater for the volume of cargo MASkargo required to move.
He said the A380 did not return empty as the Flight MH001, which departed London Heathrow at 11.35 on Wednesday morning was also fully laden with cargo.
The flight arrived in KLIA at 6.30 on Thursday morning with cargo primarily made up of pharmaceutical products and mail.
"I am ecstatic that the A380 P2C rotation is a success. It took a lot of coordination between ourselves in Kuala Lumpur, our Guangzhou office led by Oscar Chien and our London office, headed by Anita Sehgal.
"Everyone had a major role in filling up the aircraft from each end especially on the return flight with a substantial load in short notice. Our customers are happy that we managed to pull this off," said MASkargo regional senior manager Ooi Cheng Heong.
"This would not have been possible without the teamwork and unwavering cross support for each other within the Malaysian Aviation Group.
"We have more flights in the pipeline and we could not have managed them on our own. We will keep our aircraft flying to ensure the medical and business needs of the world especially Malaysia, are fulfilled.
"I believe that our perseverance and innovations during this dark period will great results which we can all celebrate together soon. In the meantime, please stay home, stay safe and stay healthy," Ibrahim added.