ID :
219215
Thu, 12/15/2011 - 03:53
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/219215
The shortlink copeid
Amsterdam-KL Flight Sector Poised For Growth In 2012 Despite Eurozone Problems
From Yong Soo Heong
AMSTERDAM, Dec 15 (Bernama) -- Some parts of Europe may be embroiled with
severe debt crisis but the European marketing office of Malaysia Airlines
(MAS)here is confident of good growth on the Amsterdam-Kuala Lumpur sector, says
its acting area manager in The Netherlands, Edwin Peters.
"Although 2012 will be a challenging year, we believe there is still a good
potential to further increase the number of Dutch travellers to Malaysia.
"Long-term promotion of the destination Malaysia in the Dutch market, with
the partnership of Tourism Malaysia, will further help us achieve our growth
ambition," he said in a recent briefing.
Peters said it was all due the strong product offering from MAS coupled with
the close and strong cooperation with KLM - Royal Dutch Airlines, its code share
partner.
The collaboration between the two national airlines had given rise to
healthy passenger figures between the two points in the last three or four
years, said Peters, who assumed his present post from April this year.
Elaborating on the strong product offering from MAS, he said all this came
from the service quality which the Malaysian national carrier had been renowned,
especially among travellers opting for premium service.
"Customer service is key in our industry. And this exemplary service comes
from the heart (of MAS staff) and that is what makes the customers who had
experienced it to come back for more," said Peters who has been with MAS for the
last 15 years.
To drive home the point about the service quality of MAS, Peters, who also
loves Malaysia food despite its spiciness, added, "It is like this -- if the mee
mamak hawker produces delicious mee mamak, he would have no problem in
attracting customers. But if his standards fall, perhaps his customers may
desert him."
With its strong premium product offering, MAS chalked up a 17 per cent
growth in business class travellers to date when compared with last year and a
12 per cent rise for first class passengers.
However, there was a slight 6.6 per cent drop in economy class passengers
as a result of the euro and financial crisis.
In terms of passenger load, he said, the sector's business class
experienced
an average load factor of 69 per cent and the first class at 20 per cent. For
the first 10 months in 2011, the average economy class load factor on the
Amsterdam route was 81 per cent.
Peters said this improvement in premium passengers demonstrated that they
knew about the service quality of MAS in the premium market although what
mattered at the end of the day was the good mix of passengers on all classes.
Besides strong passenger numbers on the Amsterdam-Kuala Lumpur sector,
MAS wants to get more passengers travelling to South-East Asia and beyond to
stop over in Kuala Lumpur and sample what Malaysia has to offer.
"A lot of our passengers not only travel to Malaysia but also to other
points like Medan, Jakarta, Surabaya and Denpasar, and even to Australia and New
Zealand. We get a lot of passengers who are of Indonesian origin," said Peters,
who said MAS has a special stopover programme that included hotel stays and
tours which the national carrier wanted to further promote.
"The idea is to develop the Kuala Lumpur International Airport into an
important hub for Malaysia Airlines in South-East Asia just as Schiphol Airport
is an important hub and spokes centre for KLM in Europe," he said. The planned
oneworld alliance and the KLM code-share partnerships will certainly attract
more passengers to fly with MH.
Describing the Amsterdam-Kuala Lumpur route as one of the oldest and
successful overseas of MAS, he said the service started in 1980 using DC10
aircraft with a stopover in Jeddah. In the nineties, MAS flew the B747 on the
AMS route with a stop in Frankfurt until in 1997 when the B777 was employed for
daily non-stop flights.
In 2003, he said MAS took a bold step in using a B747 for its daily flights
and this was when other airlines in Europe was cutting back due to
the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome health scare in South-East Asia.
The gamble paid off and MAS has been getting healthy passenger numbers ever
since, especially with the code share partnership with KLM where the Malaysian
carrier has a flight at midday while the Dutch carrier leaves at around 9pm,
thus providing passengers with flexibility on flight times.
On whether MAS would employ the Airbus 380 on the Amsterdam-Kuala Lumpur
route, Peters said this would depend on the decision at headquarters and market
developments.
-- BERNAMA