Malaysia Airlines cuts more routes to stem losses

What happened to Malaysian Airlines, MAS?

The Malaysian national flag carrier Malaysia Airlines on Friday, 23rd December 2011 said it would cut four more routes in Asia, a week after announcing a suspension to some popular global destinations as it tries to return to profit.

Now MAS does not fly to Johannesburg, Cape Town, Buenos Aires, Rome, Dubai, Karachi, Perth, Haneda, Osaka and Seoul as it used to be in the past, disappointing, shocking and bewildering millions of passengers.

The airline, which has struggled to stay in the black in recent years, unveiled a business plan last week aimed at becoming profitable by 2013 that would include a route "rationalisation" but did not name the affected routes.

It said it would put a halt to trips from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, East Malaysia to Osaka and Haneda in Japan, to Perth, Australia and to Seoul, South Korea.

The carrier added that the suspensions would come into effect between January and February 2012.

"This suspension is until further notice and is part of our regional network consolidation involving single-aisle aircraft operations," Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, the airlines' chief executive officer, said in a statement.

The airline last week said routes servicing Rome, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Buenos Aires, Karachi, Dubai, the Saudi Arabian city of Dammam, and the city of Surabaya in Indonesia, will be dropped from January 2012, shocking many people.

Why drop Dubai? It is one of the most profitable routes in the airline industries.

Luckily, MAS did not drop London and Paris routes, or the world will be turned upside down.

Instead MAS plans to instead bolster services to major destinations in Asia that have better prospects.

In the third quarter of this year 2011, the airline posted its third straight quarterly loss, owing to high fuel costs and increased competition.

Then why not MAS buys jet fuel or aircraft fuel from Malaysia's own national petroleum company, PETRONAS at much lower cost, in which of course the low pricing can always be negotiated between the Malaysian government, PETRONAS and MAS. After all these 3 are BIG brothers, they can work hand in hand towards a common goal - A BETTER Malaysia under Premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak.