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Malindo receives B737 MAX and will rebrand as Batik Air Malaysia
May 19th 2017
On Tuesday, Malindo Air became the first carrier to receive Boeing’s latest single aisle jet, the much anticipated B737 MAX. Read More » The aircraft is on lease from Avolon. Malindo parent, Lion Air Group, has ordered 200 B737 MAXs.
“This new aircraft, which allows us to go to further destinations at a distance of 7:30 hours, will certainly attract tourists to our country. As tourism is a key revenue generator for the nation, this new aircraft will play a key role in providing lower fares on air travel,” said Malindo CEO, Chandran Rama Muthy.
As the fleet expands, Malindo will be rebranded as Batik Air Malaysia in the second half of this year, said Malaysia’s Star newspaper.
“The feeder traffic from Lion Air Group is not much now, but the dynamics will change with Batik Air in the second half of this year,” Chandran said, and added Batik Air Malaysia would be the international link within the Lion Air Group. Batik Air Indonesia would continue to serve the Indonesian market as a full-service carrier, he said.
Malindo Air is 49% owned by the Lion Air Group, controlled by the Kirana brothers, with majority control (51%) held by Chandran.
Batik Air Malaysia hoped to soon complete a code share agreement with a Middle Eastern carrier, Chandran said. The airline had London, Paris, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Rome, New York, Chicago and Cape Town on its radar as destinations.
Malindo now interlines with four carriers, Etihad Airways, Oman Air, Turkish Airlines and Qatar Airways, and planned to add 10 more interline partners by year-end as well as several additional code share partners by 2018.
In 2016, Malindo carried 5.6 million passengers. It expects this number to grow to 8 million passengers this year and 10 million in 2018. The airline flies up to 240 services daily from bases at Kuala Lumpur International Airport and the city’s former hub, Subang International Airport.
