After nearly a three-year absent, Malaysia Airlines will once again resume the Brisbane-Kuala Lumpur route in June this year. Malaysia Airlines suspended the Queensland route in August 2015.
Queensland’s Attracting Aviation Investment Fund, comprising Brisbane Airport, the Queensland Government and Tourism Queensland, has successfully convinced Malaysia Airlines to reinstate their service in Brisbane.
Summary
- Malaysia airlines is resuming services to Brisbane in Jun-2018, following a nearly three-year hiatus;
- Queensland is hoping the new flight boosts visitor numbers, but Malaysia Airlines will face strong competition as the flights coming from KUL into BNE are quite saturated;
- The local Brisbane-Kuala Lumpur market is relatively limited, forcing Malaysia Airlines to rely heavily on transit traffic.
- BNE-KUL will start operating on 6 June 2018. Four weekly flights using 288-seat A330-300s, generating 59,904 annual one-way seats.
The competition
Malaysia Airlines will likely attract local Queensland-Malaysia traffic, which is now flying on AirAsia X, Malindo and Singapore Airlines. Stimulating additional local traffic is possible, particularly with the right packages and marketing campaigns, but will likely account for a small portion of the total number of passengers carried by the new flight.
AirAsia X is cutting four of its 11 weekly Kuala Lumpur-Gold Coast flights at the beginning of Feb-2018. The Brisbane and Gold Coast airports caters to slightly different market segments but are only 100km apart and are both located in southern Queensland. Total flights out of KUL into BNE still remains at 11.
Malindo started the KUL-BNE in 2016 but with an hour stop in Bali.
Singapore Airlines also offers quick one-stop connections in Changi (SIN) between KUL-BNE with multiple daily options is an attractive option.
Malaysia Airlines also expects its new Brisbane flight will attract significant transit traffic beyond Kuala Lumpur. In announcing the resumption of Brisbane, the airline stated the Brisbane-Kuala Lumpur schedule is designed “to provide seamless connectivity” throughout Malaysia, Southeast Asia and South Asia as well as to London.