Struggling for over a decade to secure flights from European airlines, 2013 marks a triumph for Kuala Lumpur International Airport for securing new links to Europe. And the recent integration fo MAS ointo Oneworld just confirms the new appeal of Malaysia’s main air gateway
KUALA LUMPUR- Blame or better praise the economic recession in Europe. This is probably what most airports authorities are currently thinking in Asia. As Europe is sinking into its deepest economic recession for at least a century, airlines from the European continent rush to escape the gloom. They now go where the market continues to grow… And this is obviously Asia where European air carriers are now jockeying to get positioned to grab a bigger share of the world’s fastest growing market segment.
Of course, most airlines continue to target China PRC. Finnair integrated Chongqing and Xian, Air France Wuhan while Lufthansa recently announced to put its Airbus A380 on its Shanghai-Frankfurt route.
However, Southeast Asia is also particularly targeted: Swiss just reopened its flights to Singapore out of Zurich while Norwegian launches non stop frequencies to Bangkok from Oslo and Stockholm.
One of the most attractive destinations in the region is currently Kuala Lumpur. The Malaysian airport fought hard in the past to secure new flights from European carriers especially after losing emblematic carriers such as British Airways or Aeroflot in the early 2000s. During a decade, the only European carriers to still serve Kuala Lumpur were KLM and Lufthansa. But times are now changing. Turkish Airlines launched a service three times a week between Istanbul and Kuala Lumpur. “We see enormous opportunity to connect business and leisure travellers between Malaysia and Turkey. As one of the fastest growing airlines in the world, our expansive network between East and West, as well as our high level of service quality, will give travellers the connectivity, reliability and comfort that they look for,” said Mr. Firat Yildirim, General Manager of Turkish Airlines in Malaysia.
Two weeks later, it was the turn of Air France which just inaugurated a few days ago three weekly flights from Paris to Kuala Lumpur. “The strong bilateral relations between Malaysia and France, complemented by the growing economic development, as well as its attractiveness as a tourist destination, make it a very good proposition for Air France-KLM to use Kuala Lumpur as a location to increase our presence in South East Asia,” highlighted Air France Chief Executive, Alexandre de Juniac, upon his arrival at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).
The French carrier targets both Malaysian and European tourists to the new service and even could switch some of the frequencies from the B777 to an Airbus A380 is the demand soars. Air France expects to reach load factors of over 80% for his three weekly flights. It is now rumoured that British Airways could be the next on the list to return to KLIA, most probably by next year. With MAS now part of Oneworld, Kuala Lumpur is gaining more international exposure and appears as an attractive conneting hub within Southeast Asia.
Kuala Lumpur fully benefits from booming air transport conditions in Asia. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), demand for air travel in Asia continues to surpass the world’s demand. IATA estimates that by 2014, Asia Pacific will account for 30% of all passengers, followed by North America at 23%. Of the 800 million new passengers who will fly by then, 360 million of them, or almost half, will be in Asia Pacific.
Kuala Lumpur is already linked to five European destinations by national carrier Malaysia Airlines, which flies to London Heathrow, Amsterdam, Paris, Istanbul and Frankfurt. Four European carriers, namely Air France, KLM, Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa are now present at the airport. The total number of available seats to Europe offered from KLIA increased from 1.8 million in 2011 to 1.9 million this year.
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
