Malaysia Airlines to increase flights

Malaysia Airlines, which operates a daily flight between Chennai and Kuala Lumpur, is all set to increase its frequency to Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai besides launching a new thrice weekly service to Kolkata soon.

With the additional flights in place, the airline expects its passenger traffic out of India to jump by 30 per cent.

According to Malaysian Airlines' senior general manager flight operations Mohammad Nawawi Awang, "The airline is currently negotiating the increased frequencies with Air-India and hopes to arrive at an agreement soon. Once the discussions are over, we will introduce the additional frequencies next summer."

Under the new deal, Malaysia Airlines hopes to fly thrice a week to Bangalore adding one frequency to its current twice weekly flights. Besides it plans to add two more flights each to Hyderabad and Mumbai. Awang said that in order to cater to India's expanding market, the airline has inducted a 17-member batch of Indian cabin crew.

The Indian nationals underwent a rigorous four-month training at the Malaysian Airlines Academy in Kula Lumpur and graduated last week. The cabin crew will serve primarily on Malaysia Airlines' Boeing 777 and A 330 flights between Kuala Lumpur and Chennai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai.

However, according to Malaysia Airlines officials, the airline is already in the process of training the second batch of Indian crew members which will graduate next month.

The third bunch from India for the training is expected to report in December. In all, the airline is planning to induct at least 100 Indian nationals as cabin crew.

(The trip was sponsored by Malaysia Airlines)