National carrier Malaysia Airlines today announced a five-year plan to expand its flight network in the Asia Pacific zone to capitalise on high growth travel regions.

Managing director Idris Jala said the airline intended to acquire aircraft that would be more suited to fly to new destinations within this core network.

"The Asia Pacific region is where the growth is. These are exciting times especially as we expand into China and India," Jala told reporters during an investment conference.

"You will see us increasing the frequency of our flights and offering new destinations over the next five years," he said.

Jala said Malaysia Airlines' has targeted 30 percent growth in its entire network or aircraft capacity in the Asia Pacific region over the next five years.

The airline intends to buy or lease long-range narrow body aircraft to fly within Asia but has not made a decision on the number of planes it requires.

Part of the proceeds of RM1.5 billion from a planned issue of new shares would cover the cost of the new planes, Jala said.

He also said the company's wholly-owned subsidiary, low cost carrier Firefly, would play a key role in the network plan by flying routes which are not financially viable for full service Malaysia Airlines.

Firefly will begin service on April 2 with two Fokker 50s. It will connect three popular destinations - Malaysia's northern Penang state, and Koh Samui and Phuket in southern Thailand.

Malaysia Airlines will also develop further its hub-and-spoke-network to improve traffic flow in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, Jala added.

Code-share agreements

The strategy involves flying to key destinations and then using code share deals to ferry travellers onwards.

The airline has some 23 code-share agreements and intends to sign more to give it access to southern European points and will also restructure routes in the Middle East.

The new network plan is part of Malaysia Airline's restructuring drive to revive the ailing carrier after it reported a 1.14-billion-ringgit net loss for 2005.

Last month it announced a smaller-than-expected loss of 136.4 million ringgit for 2006. It has forecast a net profit of between 50.0 million and 90.0 million ringgit for 2007.

"MAS has got out from its financial cash difficulties. We're on track by way of the business turnaround plan. This year we will make money as we promised," Jala said.