Malindo Air Named CAPA Asia Pacific Regional Airline of the Year

This award is given to the regional airline that has been the biggest standout strategically, has established itself as a leader, and demonstrated innovation in the regional aviation sector. This award is intended to recognise smaller airlines or airline groups with annual passenger traffic of less than 10 million. Malindo CEO Chandran Rama Muthy accepted the award from Mr Harbison. Malindo was selected for adjusting its strategy to focus on network traffic and embracing the full service model. “Over the last year Malindo has taken advantage of opportunities in the Malaysian market created by the restructuring of Malaysia Airlines and positioned itself as a full service network airline”, Mr Harbison said. “With rapid international expansion Malindo has significantly raised the profile of the Lion Group, which previously was almost entirely domestic focused. Malindo has become a rare example of a new full service airline growing rapidly and shaking up the marketplace.” CAPA noted that transit traffic now accounts for nearly 40% of Malindo’s traffic at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), a remarkable figure for an airline that is only three years old. Malindo passenger traffic grew by 50% in 2015 and is on track to achieve similar growth in 2016, following the delivery of an astonishing 11 aircraft over the last six months. CAPA also noted that Malindo had moved this year from KLIA2 to the main terminal and had forged partnerships with several foreign airlines, including Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways and Turkish Airlines. Malindo has also pursued rapid network expansion and now has 27 international destinations – 14 of which have been launched over the last 13 months.