In 2014, Malaysia Airlines was on the brink of collapse after two tragedies, but over the past few years the group has been profitable and its brand is now ranked among the top 50 brands in the ultra-competitive aviation sector. B&T caught up with chief commercial officer Malaysia Aviation Group chief commercial officer Dersenish Aresandiran to find out more.
In the past decade, more than 60 airlines have either gone bust or restructured in an industry wreaked by Covid-19 and the current cost of living crisis. Malaysia Airlines has shown resilience, despite facing even greater turmoil than its competitive set.
In 2014, Malaysia Airlines was on the brink of collapse after two tragedies—the mysterious disappearance of MH370 and the downing of MH17 by Russian backed forces.
Since then, the airline has been on a bumpy recovery path, facing further challenges with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic that largely shut down the aviation sector overnight.
Over the past few years, Malaysia Aviation Group – the parent company of Malaysia Airlines, Firefly, Amal and MASwings – posted its third consecutive year of profit, as reported in B&T’s sister publication Travel Weekly, in spite of a decision to cut north of 6,000 flights (18 per cent) during its peak flying period in 2024 due to supply chain disruptions that extended maintenance times and delays in new aircraft delivery.
Just as remarkable as its financial turnaround has been Malaysia Airlines’ rapid rise up the Skytrax brand rankings. It is now rated as the 39th top airline in the world (up from 47th a year prior), and ahead of global stalwarts including United Airlines, American Airlines, China Airlines and SAS Scandinavian. It is also rapidly gaining ground on the likes of Qantas (rated 24th, down from 17th a year ago).
In recent times Malaysia Airlines has broken into the top 50 brands globally after a decade outside, and its brand value has shot up by 290 per cent to US$607 million, making it the fastest rising airline brand valuation in the world.
Malaysia Aviation Group chief commercial officer Dersenish Aresandiran said that the group has ambitions to become one of the top 10 global airline brands (Qatar and Singapore are currently the top two), and a top five airline in Asia.
The group is doing this in a number of ways. It is upgrading its ageing fleet to the latest aircraft, including the Airbus A330neo, which has a higher level of luxury in economy and business class. It’s also forging partnerships with tourism bodies, like Tourism Australia, and major brands, including Manchester United.
Other investments include lifting its cabin experience, such as free WiFi, refreshed and improved food and drink service, and lie-flat business class cabins, as well as on ground experiences at airport check-in and luggage delivery.
“The interesting thing about new aircraft is we’re driving a higher end premium segment now. You’ve got a choice of better corporate traveler on our fleet, who have been previously traveling on the competition. We will have the youngest fleet (travelling in the Australia and New Zealand region), so why not travel on Malaysia Airlines,” Aresandiran said.
“We want to make sure that we are on someone’s mind, no longer as an option, but as a preference.”
These efforts have helped Malaysia Airlines lift its customer services indicators across the board (see below). Overall its CSI is on track to rise to 83 per cent, while its net promoter score is up 4 points to +25. On-time performance has rise by 4 points to 76.2 per cent and mishandled baggage scores are trending downwards. These KPIs are all beating Malaysia Aviation Group targets.
Lifting brand
Aresandiran said that brand is fundamentally important to the airline sector, which often operates on slim margins of between 1-3 per cent. It drives passenger perceptions, decision making and conversion.
For Malaysia Airlines, the importance of raising its brand back to “the glory days” takes on a whole new meaning given its past tragedies that led the group to restructure and rebuild.
“If you look at what we have done, the entire ecosystem, the entire Malaysia Airlines, and Malaysia aviation group, we have been putting a lot of effort on brand,” Aresandiran said.
This includes marketing campaigns like ‘Time For’ (see photo below), which ran in Sydney and Melbourne as an OOH tram wrap, and with similar activity in London.
It’s about working with partners that have common interests such as Tourism Australia and Manchester United.
“Tourism Australia has a very strong vision to grow tourism and we have a very strong desire to bring inbound tourism,” Aresandiran said. “We have been working with Tourism Australia to showcase Australia in a tertiary city in India like Trivandrum. We are trying to grow demand from and to different parts of India.”
A return to the ‘glory days’
At the recent MATTA fair in Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia Airlines unveiled a co-branded livery with Manchester United (see hero image above) on the airline’s flagship A330-300, which blends “the national pride of Malaysia with Manchester United’s global sporting prestige”.
Manchester United legends Dimitar Berbatov, Nemanja Vidić and Luís Nani were at the MATTA Fair to celebrate the livery; Malaysia Airlines is the official airline of the Red Devils.
The benefits of this partnership include promoting the Malaysia Airlines brand to Manchester United’s global fanbase, in particular the 570 million based in the Asia Pacific region, as well as being associated with one of the largest global sports brands that was once famous for its success on the pitch.
Aresandiran (pictured above) said there is a lot of alignment and shared ambition between Manchester United and the Malaysia Airlines brands.
“If you look at both teams, there is that real hunger and desire,” he said. “United are investing in their team, winning silverware and the desire to build a new stadium.
“On the Malaysia Airlines side, we are ready to grow, have invested in new routes (including to Australia) but have to grow cautiously and responsibly. Our 2030 vision is to be a top 10 global airline again., and we are confident of achieving that.”
Manchester United also harbours ambitions to return to the top 10 of the Premier League. The question is: which team will return to the top 10 first? United might sound like a safer bet, but don’t rule out the remarkable rise and redemption of Malaysia Airlines, and its 13,000-strong team.
Read next: Malaysia Aviation Group Posts Profit Despite Capacity Cuts, Admits 2025 Will Be ‘Challenging’
And: Malaysia Airlines To Resume Brisbane Flights In November & Unveils Man United Livery
Travel Weekly was invited to Kuala Lumpur by Malaysia Aviation Group to attend its annual results presentation and the MATTA Fair.
