Malaysia Airlines looks to restart Brisbane flights "again"

MALAYSIA AIRLINES AIRBUS A330-323 9M-MTD (MSN 1234)

Malaysia Airlines could 'once again' connect Brisbane with Kuala Lumpur and the rest of the Oneworld member’s steadily growing network, after the Queensland capital was axed in March 2023 as the airline worked to trim costs and right-size itself. But with travel booming and additional aircraft coming into the hangars, a restoration may soon be in the works.

Speaking on the sidelines of the launch of the airline’s first Boeing 737 MAX jet this week, Malaysia Airlines Chief Commercial Officer Dersenish Aresandiran said Brisbane was once again “under review”

“Australia is one of our core markets (and) ideally we want to increase all our frequencies into Australia to where we were in pre-Covid.”

Sydney and Melbourne have already seen boosts for the summer 2023-2024 period, including an Airbus A350 to lift capacity over the more familiar A330.

Australia will eventually move to Malaysia Airlines’ newer A330neo jets, 20 of which will arrive across 2024-2026 to replace the old A330s, which the airline says are ageing and will require higher maintenance costs.

The A330neo fleet will also introduce a new international business class seat: the Elevation model from manufacturer Collins Aerospace, also seen in British Airways’ latest Club Suite business class and for Etihad Airways’ A350 Business Studio suite.

“The 330neo will be fantastic and will probably have one of the best business classes that you've seen, and that will also be retrofitted to the A350,” Aresandiran noted, adding that Malaysia Airlines is now looking at leasing more A330neo and A350 jets to underpin its expansion plans, “because demand is booming right now.”

Going through my records, Malasia has started flying into Brisbane, and then pulled out three times since 2015.

• Pulled out 8th of August 2015
• Resumed 6th June 2018
• Pulled out 28th of October 2020
• Resumed 6th of January 2022
• Pulled out 27th of March 2023