Malaysia Airlines retires A380s, to take 737 MAX in 2024

Malaysia Airlines (MH, Kuala Lumpur Int’l) will try and sell all six of its A380-800s as it sees no place for the quadjets in its fleet going forward. “We are cognizant of the challenges to sell this aeroplane, but we are still looking at ways and means to dispose of our A380 fleet. At the moment, the management is convinced that the A380 doesn’t fit the future plan,” Chief Executive Izham Ismail said during a virtual media briefing. The Malaysian flag carrier’s six A380s are nine years old on average, having been delivered in 2012 and 2013. Malaysia Airlines struggled to find appropriate routes for the aircraft even before the COVID-19 pandemic struck. It has been reportedly trying to sell them since 2015, planning to eventually replace them with A350-900s (of which it took six in 2017 and 2018). In 2018, even as all A350s were already in its fleet, Malaysia Airlines announced that due to a lack of buyers, it would convert all six A380s into a high-density all-economy layout and use them to run religious charters to Madinah and Jeddah under the newly created Amal by Malaysia Airlines brand. The new unit was spun off in October 2018, although the conversion plan was ultimately abandoned and the aircraft continued to operate in a three-class layout, each with eight first class, 66 business class, and 412 or 420 economy class seats. Alongside the charters to Saudi Arabia, Malaysia Airlines occasionally deployed the aircraft on in-demand scheduled routes. Flightradar24 ADS-B data indicates the type’s last scheduled flight for Malaysia Airlines was on March 7, 2020, from Madinah to Kuala Lumpur Int’l. Flight MH159 was operated by 9M-MNC (msn 84). Since then, the aircraft has operated two repatriation/cargo charter flights (one each to Cairo Int’l and London Heathrow) and a number of test flights around Kuala Lumpur but otherwise, all have remained parked at the Malaysian gateway. With its announcement that the A380s would not be returning to service, Malaysia Airlines has joined the ranks of airlines retiring the type during the COVID-19 pandemic, which include Air France, Lufthansa, Etihad Airways, Hi Fly Malta, and Thai Airways International. At the same, Izham confirmed that the carrier still planned to take the B737 MAX in the future. Following negotiations with Boeing, it agreed to start taking the narrowbodies at the latest in 2024 and continue over the next three to four years. Originally, Malaysia Airlines was due to start taking deliveries of the B737 MAX in summer 2020. “We’re committed to taking the MAX’s delivery in 2024, but we are also exploring the possibility of taking them earlier,” Izham added. The carrier has twenty-five B737-8s on firm order from Boeing. The aircraft are set to partially replace Malaysia Airlines’ existing fleet of forty-four B737-800s.