SEPANG: Malaysia Airlines has increased its domestic and international connectivity beginning June and July respectively to facilitate essential travels locally and responding to other countries' lifting of border restrictions.
The airline said it will adjust its network capacity from time to time to ensure passenger demands are met before normalising the schedule in October for both domestic and international destinations.
The resumption of services it said, will allow families who have not been able to return to their hometowns due to travel restrictions in many parts of the world to reunite.
Passengers are, however, reminded to check entry and exit requirements before making their journey.
Its Group CEO Captain Izham Ismail said they were pleased to announce the resumption of their services by increasing the capacity for domestic and international routes.
He said the national carrier was also looking forward to welcoming passengers back on board.
"We shall continue to ensure their safety, health, as well as their comfort by introducing new initiatives aligned with international safety and health protocols, as part of our commitment to offer passengers peace of mind throughout their journey with us."
"I would like to take this opportunity to thank our customers for their continued support and confidence in Malaysia Airlines throughout these challenging times," he said.
Izham said following the government's recent announcement on interstate travel, they had also released a special video titled 'Ready to fly and rediscover Malaysia' which is available on Malaysia Airlines' social media platforms.
"We hope that by showcasing unique and beautiful domestic attractions located across Malaysia, we can inspire local travellers to explore the beauty of our homeland and boost local tourism efforts."
At the onset of the Covid-19 outbreak, the national carrier implemented various enhanced safety measures and protocols in coordination with health and airport authorities to ensure passengers' health and wellbeing was taken care of.
These measures include temperature checks, sanitisation and disinfection of all properties and facilities, enforcement of social distancing, mandatory usage of face masks and installation of protective screen barriers at check-in counters and transfer desks at KL International Airport (KLIA).
All Malaysia Airlines frontliners on ground and onboard were required to wear personal protective equipment and have their health screened daily. Even upon arrival, passenger luggage would be sanitised.
The health and safety precautionary measures were also extended to the Malaysia Airlines Golden Lounges which was planned to be re-opened on July 1.
Inflight dining has also been modified to limit contact between cabin crew and passengers but was assured to be substantial for all cabin classes especially on long haul flights.
The airline also ensured all its aircraft were cleaned and disinfected before and after every flight, while lavatories would be kept clean during flight by cabin crew at regular intervals.
Other inflight services such as reading material, inflight duty-free and retail would continue to be suspended for the time being.
Domestic flights in June and July will involve twice-weekly flights, involving the Kuala Lumpur- Alor Star/Johor Baru/Kota Baru/Langkawi/Terengganu/Labuan/Miri/Sandakan/Tawau routes, as well as a once a week flight for the Kuala Lumpur- Kuantan/Bintulu/Sibu routes. The Kuala Lumpur- Penang/Kuching route will provide three weekly flights in June, whilst the Kuala Lumpur - Kuching will provide five weekly flights in July.
The frequency of flights for international destinations which will only take-off in July will see the national carrier fly twice a week on the Kuala Lumpur- Dhaka/Kathmandu/ London/Osaka/Narita/Incheon/Hong Kong/Melbourne/Sydney/Perth/Depansar/Phuket/Cambodia routes.
The Kuala Lumpur – Melbourne route, however, will only be operated between July 1 and 18, whereas the Kuala Lumpur- Sydney route will only take to the skies between July 1 and 5.
The national carrier will also fly once a week for the Kuala Lumpur- Chennai/ Hyderabad/ Mumbai/ Bangalore/Cochin/ Sri Lanka /Taipei/Guangzhou/Sydney/Melbourne/Adelaide/Brisbane/Surabaya routes. However, the Kuala Lumpur – Sydney route will only operate from July 6 until 31, whereas Kuala Lumpur – Melbourne route will operate between July 19 until 31.
The other routes operated by MAS include the Kuala Lumpur- Manila (three times weekly); Kuala Lumpur- Jakarta/Bangkok (four times weekly); and, the Kuala Lumpur- Singapore route (five times weekly).
Passengers looking for flights to return home on Malaysia Airlines may book their tickets on Malaysia Airlines' official website at https://www.malaysiaairlines.com/my/en.html or via Malaysia Airlines' app with some departure dates available for booking.
The flight schedules are available on Malaysia Airlines website.
Passengers are urged to perform online or mobile check-in to reduce interaction and avoid the queues at the airport, especially those travelling on domestic and regional routes.
Fly to popular tourist destinations in Malaysia at a cheaper fare using MAS Airline Promotion.