Malindo Air Service to East Malaysia.

Most air travellers in East Malaysia has not stopped fuming over the termination of service by Fireflys Airline  in late 2011. This short haul full service Malaysia Airlines subsidiary was doing well when it suddenly cancelled its operation following the (now defunct) share swap deal between MAS and Air Asia in later part of 2011. At least there was a choice that East Malaysian had whether to fly with Firefly or Air Asia. Many, in fact, had preferred  the former(fireflyz) because of its apparent friendlier service.
Here come the new Low Cost Carrier which promotes itself as a hybrid airline would complement the local aviation industry ecosystem in addition to winning the rapid growth potential of the Asian market.Malindo Air, the new domestic low-cost carrier will start their operation on 1^st May 2013 from the new KLIA2 terminal and will operate flights between Malaysia and Indonesia initially. However, Malindo Air has brought forward the launch date to mid-March 2013 and will begin with domestic flights: Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu & Kuching.

A new hybrid airline offers low air fares with additional services is set to takeoff its first flight on 22 March 2013 after its success in getting the AOC from Department of Civil Aviation (DCA), Malaysia last month. This will mark the second low-cost carrier in Malaysia which offer additional service with affordable fares. This brand new airline will be operating Boeing 737-900ER.

Several interesting key point:

• Malindo Air will provide a hybrid service (Hybrid is an airline service concept which combine together both LCC and Premium service).
• Malindo Air will take off earlier from the original schedule in mid-March with 12 Boeing 737-900ER with 12-business class seats and 168 economy seats with the In-Flight Entertainment and Wi-Fi.
• Number of domestic flights destination in Malaysia will increase from time to time.
• Boeing 787 will be introduced in 2015.
• Ticket fare and the services is aimed to be on par if not lower that Air Asia.

 By using the slogan “Not Just Low Cost”, Malindo sure needs a pack of punch to break the AirAsia monopoly on the Malaysia market. It is believed that Malindo Airways is eyeing primarily AirAsia’s on the lucrative domestic market in Malaysia which is primarily on the east coast of the Malaysia that is Sabah and Sarawak. Theoretically Malindo Airways for being a new entrant in Malaysia will go all out for market share at the expense of profits by undercutting prices. AirAsia also on the other hand, may also want nip the competition in the bud by dropping fares. This will result in a full-scale price war.