Air travel confidence improving since terror attack slump: MAS
Loss-making Malaysia Airline System (MAS) said today that passenger confidence in air travel has improved after being badly hit by the Sept 11 terror attacks.
"Initially we had about 4,000 cancellations of flight reservations. Now it is going back to normal," Ahmad Fuaad Dahlan, MAS senior general manager said.
MAS said its load factor had surged above 70 percent and we would push for more passenger load from March to May, he was cited as saying by Bernama news agency. Ahmad did not elaborate.
He said this at a campaign by travel agents to promote air travel.
Ahmad said with improved sentiments, MAS had also reinstated flights to Rome and Zurich and increased flight frequency to selected Asian destinations.
MAS had increased its flight frequency to four times a day from Kuala Lumpur to Jakarta and flights to Tokyo would be twice a day beginning April, he said.
Ahmad said MAS may increase its flight frequency from Kuala Lumpur to China and evaluating the viability of another two new destinations in China - Kunming and Chengdu.
Discounts on offer
MAS' strategy was to increase flight frequency in the region, then to Europe and followed by the trans-Pacific destinations which are linked to the United States, he said.
Ahmad said MAS London-Kuala Lumpur route did not suffer much from the September attacks.
"We have not seen our load factor reducing even in November and December (2001)," he said.
Ahmad said MAS hoped the campaign would boost confidence in air travel.
At the three-day fair which began Friday, MAS was offering discounts of between 30 and 40 percent on air fares, he said.
MAS, struggling under some RM10 billion in debt, embarked on a restructuring plan last year to return to the black by 2004.
In January, it announced it would be delisted from the stock exchange and that it would split its domestic and international operations as part of restructuring plans.
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