Improvements on the ground and in the air are to be launched by Malaysia Airlines in December as part of its fightback after the tragedies of flights MH370 and MH17 last year.
The company says the upgrades will include new seats, better catering, inflight entertainment and lounge concepts. There would be new staff uniforms and other operational improvements such as improved punctuality and better connection times through Kuala Lumpur.
The changes were announced by Christoph Mueller, Chief Executive, who is also credited with leading the turnaround of Aer Lingus.
Mueller ruled out changing Malaysia’s brand name, partly because of the cost of repainting aircraft.
He said Malaysia had tried initially to tap the so-called Kangaroo route between Australia and Europe, but the idea was dropped because "the route is now firmly in the hands of the Middle Eastern carriers."
But he added: "We recognise China, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, India, are growing and that is where we will focus. We are going from a northwest/southeast focus more to a north/south."
Mueller’s update follows the announcement by Malaysia in August of a radical restructuring involving cutting staff numbers and closing some of its longer routes. www.malaysiaairlines.com/my/en.html
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