KUALA LUMPUR : Malaysia Aviation Group, the parent company of Malaysia Airlines, said on Friday it will purchase 30 new Boeing 737 aircraft for 2029 delivery, as it seeks to modernise the flag-carrier’s fleet and rebound from a series of setbacks.
The group has agreed to buy 18 Boeing 737 MAX 8 and 12 of the 737 MAX 10 planes, MAG managing director Izham Ismail said. MAG declined to reveal the value of the deal.
The group includes Malaysia Airlines, short-haul airline Firefly and pilgrimage airline Amal, with a mixed fleet that has both Airbus and Boeing planes. It was not immediately clear how many of the new jets would be allocated to each carrier.
Malaysia Airlines has struggled to recover from two deadly disasters in 2014 and has been steadily renewing its fleet. The airline was delisted in 2014 and its former parent Malaysian Airline System was restructured into MAG under the ownership of sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional.
Malaysia Airlines temporarily reduced its flights after it was investigated last year by Malaysia’s civil aviation authority, which found several significant safety and maintenance issues.
“It’s very timely that Malaysia Airlines does not repeat the same mistake. So, the ordering of new planes must be well-timed, otherwise we will end up as we did last year,” Izham told a press conference, describing the purchase as a very important milestone.
The decision to buy the aircraft was based on extensive evaluation such as fuel efficiency, environmental sustainability, operational performance, and technical reliability, Izham said.
The deal included an option to purchase a further 30 jets, which he said would depend on market conditions.
“Malaysia Airlines has to prove its credibility, that it is able to sustain its trajectory sustainably, commercially, and financially, then we’ll make that decision,” he said.
In February 2022, MAG agreed to lease 25 new Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets from Air Lease Corporation for delivery by 2026. The first of the planes arrived in November 2023. MAG in 2022 also said it would acquire 20 new Airbus A330neo jets by 2028, the first of which arrived in November.
Izham said they have already received 11 aircraft from the 2022 agreement on the Boeing jets and the remaining 14 would arrive in the next 18 months.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who attended the signing, said he was pleased to see Malaysia Airlines continue its longstanding relationship with Boeing.
“I trust that Boeing and GE Aerospace will recognise this partnership as a valuable opportunity to strengthen their presence in Malaysia,” he said.
