It’s an exciting day for Malaysia Airlines, as the oneworld carrier has just taken delivery of its first Airbus A330neo.
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Malaysia Airlines has 20 Airbus A330neos on order
In August 2022, Malaysia Airlines placed an order for 20 Airbus A330-900neo aircraft, with 10 of the planes being purchased directly from Airbus, and 10 being leased from Dublin-based Avolon. The Kuala Lumpur-based airline has today taken delivery of its very first of these jets, with the registration code 9M-MNG. The expectation is that they’ll all join the company’s fleet by 2028.
Prior to taking delivery of the latest generation Airbus A330neo, Malaysia Airlines had a fleet of 20 A330s, including seven A330-200s and 13 A330-300s. These planes are an average of around 14 years old, and the plan is for A330neo aircraft to progressively replace these.
We can expect to see Malaysia Airlines operate the A330neo on flights within Asia, as well as on flights to the South Pacific and the Middle East.
For context, the A330neo has both the -800neo and -900neo variants:
- The A330-800neo has a standard three-cabin capacity of 257, while the A330-900neo has a standard three-cabin capacity of 287
- The A330-800neo has a range of 7,506nm, while the A330-900neo has a range of 6,550nm
The A330-900neo has been much more popular with airlines than the A330-800neo, and has seen exponentially more orders. So it’s not surprising to see Malaysia Airlines go with that jet.
What to expect onboard Malaysia Airlines’ A330neos
Malaysia Airlines is equipping its Airbus A330-900neos with 297 seats. This includes 28 fully flat business class seats with direct aisle access, plus 269 economy class seats.
In business class, Malaysia Airlines is offering reverse herringbone seats with doors. Specifically, the airline has selected the Collins Aerospace Elevation product, which is essentially a rebranding of the Collins Aerospace Super Diamond product. This is the same product you’ll find in British Airways’ Club Suites, as well as in Etihad’s A350 business class. As you can see, the cabin looks nice, though the finishes seem quite generic.
This is an exciting new product for the airline, and represents quite an improvement over Malaysia Airlines’ old business class. The A330neo will also have Wi-Fi, plus all the features you expect on a new aircraft, like larger overhead bins.
How the A330neo fits into Malaysia Airlines’ fleet
Malaysia Airlines should have a pretty young fleet in the coming years. Before the A330neo, Malaysia Airlines’ fleet consisted of:
- Seven Airbus A350, which are an average of seven years old
- 20 Airbus A330s, which are an average of 14 years old
- 46 Boeing 737s, which are an average of 11 years old (these planes are in the process of being refurbished); there are a handful of 737 MAXs among those
Malaysia Airlines used to have six Airbus A380s, but the airline retired those years back.
When it comes to fleet renewal:
- Malaysia Airlines is going to replace A330ceos with A330neos
- Malaysia Airlines has started taking delivery of the 50 Boeing 737 MAXs it has on order, which are progressively replacing existing 737s
A fleet of A350s, A330neos, and 737 MAXs, sounds pretty modern to me. Now, I’m not sure this addresses Malaysia Airlines’ profitability issues and financial struggles over the years, but that’s a whole different story.
Bottom line
In 2022, Malaysia Airlines placed an order for 20 Airbus A330-900neos, which have now started to be delivered to the airline. The plan is for these to replace existing A330s, offering better fuel efficiency and passenger experience. We can expect to see this plane flying within Asia, as well as to the South Pacific and the Middle East.
I’m looking forward to flying on this jet, especially given the new onboard product the airline is offering!
What do you make of Malaysia Airlines’ fleet refresh with the A330neo?
Malaysian Airlines just hasn't caught up to its neighbor in Singapore. Flying narrowbodies intra Asia with recliner seats in business class just isn't good enough. SQ has proper regional widebodies and premium configured narrowbodies.
I spent a few hours in the MH business suite lounge, their OWE lounge and it was honestly quite lacking.
Just really small details like the shower rooms/bathrooms, etc made it feel very cheap.
Indeed. I fly a lot in SEA and SA where MH mostly offers the best routing and best pricing. I avoid them however for exactly this reason. The 737's they fly for 3-5 hour flights are not for me.
I wish more carriers would put more thought in their cabin finishes from colours to patterns, materials, etc. rather than something off the shelf. Plenty of them look way to cold and sterile with no customization. Say what you want about Emirates, but they seem to put a lot of thought in their cabins (for better or worse). There are carriers that have beautiful cabins (ANAs The Room, CXs Aria Suites, SQs upcoming product looks...
I wish more carriers would put more thought in their cabin finishes from colours to patterns, materials, etc. rather than something off the shelf. Plenty of them look way to cold and sterile with no customization. Say what you want about Emirates, but they seem to put a lot of thought in their cabins (for better or worse). There are carriers that have beautiful cabins (ANAs The Room, CXs Aria Suites, SQs upcoming product looks promising as well).
It appears they'll be the first to offer a herringbone product with a door on the A330, but do they really need a door for the routes they'll be deployed on? They could've just saved the doors for the A350, but that's just me.
MAS flies their A330s (ceo) to some long haul destinations, such as Australia and East Asia as well. Given that there's a chance they deploy the new A330neos to those destinations first, I guess doors would fit into them. Of course, they aren't really a necessary addition for short haul routes, but I'm glad to see MAS trying to catch up or take the lead in the region with the hard product quality (looking at...
MAS flies their A330s (ceo) to some long haul destinations, such as Australia and East Asia as well. Given that there's a chance they deploy the new A330neos to those destinations first, I guess doors would fit into them. Of course, they aren't really a necessary addition for short haul routes, but I'm glad to see MAS trying to catch up or take the lead in the region with the hard product quality (looking at the state of TG, GA, and even SQ is not really a leading airline in terms of hard product nowadays).
Upon checking, the longest routes they utilize their A330s on are roughly 9-10 hours to AKL, MEL, etc. While there's little competition (SQ), I guess a door is an added bonus.
SQ tends to use their regional product to secondary cities like ADL, PER, etc. I'm not sure how the onboard service compares between the two.
With CX being the next major customer for the neos, it'll be interesting to see what seat they...
Upon checking, the longest routes they utilize their A330s on are roughly 9-10 hours to AKL, MEL, etc. While there's little competition (SQ), I guess a door is an added bonus.
SQ tends to use their regional product to secondary cities like ADL, PER, etc. I'm not sure how the onboard service compares between the two.
With CX being the next major customer for the neos, it'll be interesting to see what seat they choose and if they add a door. Aside from doing intra-Asia hops, they'll be using them to secondary cities in India and OZ while destinations like SYD get either the 77W or A350.
"but do they really need a door for the routes they'll be deployed on?"
Honestly asking, who "needs" a door for anything, in an airline seat? For most of them, unless you're hiding from midgets, they don't actually accomplish anything. Never seen such a useless airline gimmick.
I actually prefer curtains!
Curtains make sense, because they really can obscure who's there. Not a door that only goes up to 4 feet.