Kota Kinabalu Airport

Lion's Malindo breaks AirAsia-MAS duopoly in Malaysian domestic market. Next stop: Delhi...and Asia

Lion Air Group affiliate Malindo launched services on 22-Mar-2013 with seven daily flights spread across Malaysia’s two largest domestic routes – Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu and Kuching. With its hybrid business model and low fares, Malindo will impact both AirAsia and Malaysia Airlines (MAS), which were previously the only two carriers on domestic trunk routes within Malaysia.

Malindo is planning rapid domestic and international expansion, leveraging Lion’s huge order book for 737s. India is poised to become Malindo’s first international destination with service to Delhi starting in Jun-2013, exploiting a market which is under-served due to cuts last year at AirAsia X. Several planned destinations in India and China will allow Malindo to increase aircraft utilisation and tap into the lucrative Malaysia-India and Malaysia-China markets. It also seeks to tap the fast-growing Indonesia-India and Indonesia-China markets, which Malindo will serve by offering connections to Lion.

Malaysia Airlines finally gives oneworld a presence in fast-growing Southeast Asia market

Malaysia Airlines (MAS) formally joined oneworld on 1-Feb-2013, giving the alliance 12 full members and its first member in Southeast Asia. For oneworld, MAS fills a white spot in one of the world’s fastest growing regions. For MAS, oneworld supports the carrier’s new focus on the premium end of the market.

MAS is in the latter stages of a restructuring which began at the end of 2011, when it unveiled a new business plan. Joining oneworld is a key component of the business plan. While only three oneworld members currently serve MAS’ Kuala Lumpur hub, joining the alliance expands its virtual network and increases its relevance in the premium market.

MAS will achieve its targeted 12% capacity reduction by February, to the delight of Gulf carriers

Gulf carriers and AirAsia will likely emerge as the main beneficiaries of the network restructuring at Malaysia Airlines (MAS). The Malaysian flag carrier has selected several routes to discontinue by early next month, resulting in a 12% reduction in system-wide capacity as it begins implementing its new business plan.

The world's top ten routes are in Asia Pacific

The world's busiest air route is...Tokyo Haneda-Sapporo Chitose. Indeed the top ten are all in the Asia Pacific region, which reflects its rise as the world's pre-eminent aviation market. Many of Asia's leading route pairs are in the established markets of Japan and Australia. But it is also interesting that among the airports represented as end points in the top 10 routes, ten of the airports fail to rank in the world's Top 30 airports. Though Sapporo has an enormous seat offer to Haneda, it has far less impact elsewhere.