Malaysia Airlines and SIA expand scope of collaboration

Malaysia Airlines (MAB) and Singapore Airlines (SIA) have collaborated to step up co-operative ties and build on the existing codeshare agreement that covers flights between Singapore and Malaysia.The collaboration will also see SIA subsidiaries SilkAir and Scoot, as well as Firefly, the sister airline of MAB involved in the enhancement. As part of this new partnership, enhanced ties potentially include an expansion of codeshare flights beyond Singapore-Malaysia routes, as well as enhancements on the frequent flyer programme front. Others involve cargo as well as maintenance, repair and overhaul services.Malaysia Airlines’ group chief executive officer, Izham Ismail, said MAB has always historically had strong commercial and cultural links with SIA and aims to add more value to the customer proposition through the new collaboration. "My team and I are extremely pleased to be able to build on that close relationship even further, this time across many areas of both airlines’ ecosystems," he added.SIA’s chief executive officer, Goh Choon Phong said SIA and MAB operate in a region with a rapidly growing air travel market, presenting significant growth opportunities for both carriers, and this collaboration helps to expand the scope of the cooperation, increase global connectivity for Malaysia and Singapore, and enhance service offerings for customers.Malaysia Airlines posted a 2% yoy increase in revenue last week, for the first quarter of its financial year ended 31 March 2019 (Q1 2019). According to its financial report, the airline witnessed a two percentage point year-on-year (yoy) increase in customer satisfaction (CSI) and 14 point increase in net promoter score (NPS), following improvements in cabin, boarding and check-in services, as well as website and mobile app experience.MAB also achieved an on-time performance (OTP) of 86% compared to 76% the previous year, as a result of improved operational efficiencies overall. This includes network realignment and improved technical dispatch reliability and ground handling process. However, Ismail said in the statement that the airline expects 2019 to remain “extremely challenging”.