Southeast Asia is fast becoming a hotspot for world tourism and the increasing influx of tourists to the region has seen a number of airlines offer increasingly more attractive fares, and even a few new ones join the fray. Malindo Air, based in Selangor, Malaysia, is the latest entrant into the value-for-money segment, and has seen quite a few takers in its first year of operations. Malindo Air CEO Chandran Rama Muthy sheds some light on the new brand, and their plans for affordable travel. Excerpts from an interview:
It’s been just a year since Malindo Air started operations, can you tell us a little about the brand?
Malindo Air is a subsidiary of Lion Group, which owns Lion Air & Batik Air, and operates out of Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (KLIA2). We started in March 2013 with two aircraft and initially had domestic flights before branching to India, where we fly to Delhi, Trichy, Mumbai and now Kochi. We call ourselves a hybrid airline, offering maximum value for a low price, such as providing full 32-inch seat pitch for economy class and 45 inch for business class. All passengers get personal monitors and entertainment, meals and 30 kg of free luggage (20 kg for Delhi and domestic flights). We’ve also started a secondary hub at Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport in Subang to operate smaller domestic flights. By the end of the year we plan to have eight aircraft in our main fleet and 13 operating from Subang.
Which are the international destinations that you service?
We fly to the destinations I mentioned earlier in India, Bali, Jakarta and Batam in Indonesia and also to Dhaka and Chittagong in Bangladesh and Bangkok in Thailand. Soon we will have flights to Singapore as well, with the Kochi flights connecting to Singapore.
Despite the attractive fares, you have not skimped out on many luxuries aboard the aircraft. Is long-term feasibility of such a model an issue?
As of now, our main aim is to be recognised as a trustworthy brand, so our focus is on that. Also, since we are part of a much larger group that effect trickles down to us, as economy of scale ensures that our engineering and maintenance costs are kept in check. We are working on productivity and cost management, which allows us to offer low fares and good service.
What is the scale of the workforce you employ?
We have more than 1,200 people working for us at this point, mostly Malaysians, though we employ personnel at all the destinations we fly to as well.
The area you serve has become a hotspot for low cost airlines. What is the competition like for a new brand like yours?
Every business has competition, and we are used to it. We believe the product is good and the price is right. Also, we brand ourselves as hybrid, and do not impose unnecessary costs on our customers.
Now that you have a foothold, what are your plans going forward? Any intention to service regions beyond South and Southeast Asia?
We are looking to start services to Chennai and Kolkata in India, and will be flying to Singapore by October. We will also be starting some international services from Subang Airport, to Krabi in Thailand and from Penang (Malaysia) to Krabi. Beyond that we are looking at more destinations and increasing capacity. We intend to stick to the region we fly in now, because there are always people looking to fly between these countries, and the sheer population of the region. Indians often come to Malaysia for leisure and Malaysians also travel to India for pilgrimage, visiting and so on, so Malindo connecting the two is a win-win situation. Till date we have carried over 2 million passengers and things will only look up as we increase capacity. Our Kochi services just started and the load factor is already 70 percent. By December we are looking to double the Kochi services to twice a day.
