KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Airlines Bhd will resume flights to Europe from here starting 2025 after axing all European routes except London in its network nearly a decade ago.
Business Times learnt that the national carrier is likely to introduce three destinations namely Paris, Milan and Madrid with France's capital possibly being the first out of the three routes to be serviced next year.
Malaysia Airlines' parent company Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG) is believed to be planning on the announcement of the European destinations.
Sources told Business Times that the routes may be revealed at the upcoming Matta fair on Sept 6 or at a standalone event instead.
Business Times has reached out to MAG on Wednesday.
MAG said it had no comment on the matter at the moment.
The European destinations could be served by Malaysia Airlines' upcoming new widebody airplanes, the Airbus A330-900 which MAG has ordered in August 2022 to replace its current A330ceo (current engine option) fleet.
The airline's first A330-900 aircraft is expected to be delivered by end-September.
MAG said recently that it was expecting three of the widebody aircraft type by year-end instead of initial four airplanes.
Checks by Business Times on Airbus' website showed that the A330neo (new engine option) family, which comprised of the A330-900 and the A330-800, has a flight duration between 30 minutes to 17 hours.
A one-way direct flight from Kuala Lumpur to Paris, Milan and Madrid takes between 15 hours and 16 hours. MAG also has the option to operate its other widebody, the A350-900 to fly to Europe.
Currently, the group has seven A350s in its fleet, although one is believed to be grounded due to bird strike incident.
Airbus' website showed that the A350-900, particularly the A350-900ULR (ultra long-range) can fly over 20 hours non-stop, further than other commercial aircraft in service worldwide.
On Aug 14, MAG managing director Datuk Captain Izham Ismail told Business Times in an interview that the group's option to exercise a new batch of A330neos for its second batch of new aircraft remained although he was tight lipped on the details of the upcoming order.
MAG is slated to announce its new request for proposal (RFP) for its second batch of airplanes by year-end.
However, many in the industry believes that the announcement would be made public by September.
Malaysia Airlines had suspended flights to Europe in 2016, particularly Paris and Amsterdam, as the carrier phased out its B777 fleet.
Frankfurt and Istanbul were axed in the carrier's network in 2015 as part of its network restructuring plan.
Decades ago, Malaysia Airlines before its 2016 restructuring had flown to France (Paris), Germany (Frankfurt, Munich), Italy (Rome), Spain (Madrid) and Switzerland (Zurich).
Sources said the availability of new aircraft would be one of the challenges for Malaysia Airlines to expand its network as late arrival of new airplanes could possibly push the launch to a later date.
"The industry globally is facing shortage of new aircraft, shortage of spare parts. On top of that, it (airline industry) has to comply with the international sustainability goals like using sustainable aviation fuel and all that," the source said.
He added that the global challenges should not hinder Malaysia Airlines' plan to expand its network and become world's best top 10 airlines in the future.