Malaysian airline with a base in the nation to return its fleet to full capacity since last year is Batik Air Malaysia, an airline division of Indonesia’s Lion Group.
Many airlines throughout the world, including the airline’s rivals, have not yet put all of their aircraft into service after COVID-19 since they were parked for an extended period of time during the lockdown and are currently receiving maintenance.
The success of Lion Group is attributed to its own maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) centres, which were in operation even throughout the pandemic, according to Datuk Chandran Rama Muthy, group strategy director of Lion Group.
“We didn’t shut down our MRO centre during the Covid-19 (period). They were scurrying as they got ready for the border to open. We eventually were quick enough to recover when it (the border) opened. That was important, he recently told Business Times in an exclusive interview.
The majority of Batik Air’s employees were furloughed, which helped the company recover quickly. Once the border was announced to be reopened, the majority of the pilots and cabin crews were sent for training.
Chandran claimed that only a small number of airlines, including Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, and Emirates, would be able to recover rapidly from the pandemic because they were prepared to fly as soon as the borders were opened.
Since the lockout, airfares have increased as a result of the tight supply and increased travel demand.
Chandran observed that, as airlines begin to increase frequency on their routes, the cost of plane tickets has been progressively declining.
“Flight prices (have) already decreased. Currently, (most) flights from Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok cost roughly RM300 when searching on Google Flights. After Covid-19 (lockdown), we only recently began to open, and the flight was over RM1,000.
“Flights are very cheap right now. Whoever has the finest pricing structure will win today, according to Chandran, who also noted that there is still a strong desire to travel.
He anticipated that the demand for travel would remain high for the ensuing year or two. Since Batik Air carried 5.9 million passengers from January to August of this year, demand has risen above that of 2019.
With the Lion Air Group of airlines excluded, Batik Air carried 7.2 million passengers overall in 2019.
Chandran anticipates that Batik Air will transport up to 8.5 million people this year.
Chandran stated that the airline is reopening the routes it used to fly before the Covid-19 outbreak rocked the aviation industry in relation to Batik Air’s quick worldwide network expansion.
Even before COVID-19, we had expertise with opening up numerous destinations. 20 countries were among the nearly 57 places we travelled via air. We never closed (the routes) permanently, so it’s just a matter of restoring them now. “Likewise, I see other airlines are also quite aggressive (in increasing their overseas routes). You cannot be slow in the airline industry. Chandran, an aviation veteran with more than 20 years of expertise, advised, “You’ve got to go quickly.
