MALAYSIA Airlines (MAS) and Myanmar Airways International (MAI) have inked a codesharing agreement that will come into effect on February 15, 2014.
MAS will place its flight code on MAI’s Kuala Lumpur-Yangon-Kuala Lumpur services, boosting MAS’s Yangon flight frequency from 14 flights to 19 flights weekly.
On the other hand, MAI will see its code placed on MAS’ services to Singapore, Langkawi, Bangkok and Penang.
The two airlines were formerly united through a similar agreement in 2006, but the deal was suspended in 2010 because of international economic sanctions against Myanmar.
MAS’ CEO, Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, said in a media release: “(The resumed codeshare) is also our initiative towards enhancing air connectivity with key priority markets overseas for increased tourist arrivals into Malaysia and in conjunction with Visit Malaysia Year 2014. We encourage our customers in Yangon to take full advantage of this agreement to connect to various destinations in Malaysia such as Langkawi and Penang.”
To commemorate the resumption, MAS is offering all-inclusive return fares to Yangon priced from RM464 (US$139) for economy class seats and RM1,401 for business class.
Separately, MAS today announced that it will be suspending Los Angeles flights following a route rationalisation exercise, effective April 30.
Calling the route “no longer economically viable”, Ahmad Jauhari said: “The factors contributing to this negative situation today include overcapacity and competition resulting in lower yields, high cost of operating the Boeing 777 aircraft, and pressure from continued increases in fuel costs.”
The same release said the carrier would “focus on Asia where the demand fuelled by a growing middle class and increased global and intra-regional trade. The national carrier will thus increase frequencies to key regional cities to benefit from the strong growth in regional demand”.
MAS continues to serve major cities in the US such as Atlanta, Boston, Washington, Houston, Minneapolis, Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, Las Vegas, San Diego, Honolulu and Raleigh via Europe and Japan through codeshare arrangements with American Airlines and Japan Airlines.
