Page 23 - AAA JUNE - JULY 2022 Online Magazine

confidence to travel again. forces our commitment of putting safety and
hygiene as the anchor across all end-to-end
What is the current demand for air travel on Malaysia consumer touchpoints – beginning from the
Airlines routes to important destinations in SE Asia? check-in counters, lounges, on-board our flights
We are seeing a strong pent-up demand to travel between Malaysia and through to point of arrival. We remain stead-
Airlines to India, Australia (Melbourne and Sydney), London and fast in our commitment to adopting the highest
other Asia Pacific destinations including Singapore, Indonesia, safety and hygiene standards in air travel as
and Thailand. These have always been popular routes for tourists we welcome our passengers to fly confidently
and Malaysians working in the said destinations, thus the pent-up with us.
demand is anticipated, following nearly 24 months of border closure.
Recently we have also launched our inaugural direct flight from KUL What are the steps being taken by
to DOH and will be servicing KUL to HND beginning August 2022. Malaysia Airlines with regards to sustain-
ability?
Our capacity is currently at 50 per cent of the pre-COVID-19 level Delivering socially responsible and environmen-
projected for June, with a significant increase in ticket sales follow- tally focused service is one of our key priorities,
ing the reopening of the Malaysian border. We are progressively with sustainability now top of mind for many trav-
ramping up our capacity and introducing strategic route expansion ellers. The MAG Sustainability Blueprint sets
in view of the reopening of borders to international destinations, as the course for the Group to contribute to a net
we anticipate travel demand for international travel to pick up. To zero carbon future by 2050 and we are proud
further encourage travel, the airline has also reintroduced its ‘Bonus to be taking tangible steps towards that goal.
Side Trip, allowing passengers to add an extra leg to their journey As a Group, MAG will focus on four near-term
and explore cultural gems at minimal costs, as well as extending its priorities in the journey to net-zero emissions:
MHflypass programme to ASEAN destinations. We are gradually aircraft efficiency, technological enhancements
increasing our frequency and network to achieve more than 70 per to aircraft, sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), as
cent of pre-COVID-19 capacity for domestic and international travel well as carbon offsets.
by the end of 2022.
As a pioneer for the use of SAF in Malaysian
What were the steps taken by the airline to ensure safe aviation, we have conducted the country’s
return of aircraft parked on ground for months back to first cargo and passenger flights using SAF. In
commercial service? December of last year, Malaysia Airlines flew
Our Engineering team has a very stringent Return to Operations the country’s first registered commercial aircraft
(RTO) checklist guided by materials from aircraft manufacturers, using SAF from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur,
the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the Civil and recently completed its first passenger flight
Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) to ensure the safe return of from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore powered by
aircraft to operations. In addition, we mandated Confidence Check to SAF. This is part of our overarching commit-
capture latent defects before failure for aircraft operation. Our team ment to promote socio-economic development
also continuously monitors aircraft in operations on performance, and achieving its global commitment to net-zero
repeated defects, disruptions prevention and institute improvement carbon emissions by 2050.
programmes for the fleet. During the pandemic, we continued with
movement of essential services by mounting rescue and repatriation Please elaborate on use of SAF and
flights worldwide. For the travel industry, including airlines, many joint future for the same at Malaysia Airlines?
efforts are required to restore people’s confidence to travel, and this SAF is recognised globally as the most feasible
was done beforehand during the pandemic. Our pilots also under- option to significantly reduce aviation emissions
went recurrent training that includes simulator training, line checks in the near term. It is a key component of our
and Crew Resource Management (CRM); an educational session strategy to deliver a more sustainable travel
held in the classroom to address issues in facing uncertainties. experience for our customers and the environ-
ment. We intend to roll out the SAF-powered
To encourage passengers to Fly Confidently, various means and flights to MAG airlines in stages, depending to
procedures were adopted to ensure passengers safety within the the available infrastructure and policies in place.
cabin including aircraft operations by fully vaccinated pilots and cabin For our first passenger flight powered by SAF,
crew, mandatory use of face masks, frequent aircraft disinfections in conjunction with World Environment Day on 5
following guidelines prescribed by the Ministry of Health Malaysia June, the aircraft was fueled with a blend of con-
and World Health Organization, and utilisation of aircraft HEPA filters ventional jet fuel and SAF which is produced 100
that are proven to filter out 99.97 per cent of viruses on board. The per centfrom renewable waste and residue raw
7-star rating for COVID-19 health and safety measures we received materials, such as animal waste fat. By 2025, we
from Airline Ratings is testament to the airline’s excellence in imple- plan to make SAF the cleaner and more viable
menting comprehensive safety protocols. energy option for our regular flights.

In January 2022, we launched the MHFlySafe campaign that rein-

ASIAN AIRLINES & AEROSPACE June_July 2022 | 23