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Malaysia Airlines offers six aircraft for sale on LinkedIn
Times are tough for Asian airlines, so tough that one has taken to social media to try to offload unwanted aircraft. Malaysia Airlines (MAS) has posted the planes on its LinkedIn site in the hope of attracting bidders. The open tender is being conducted by an aircraft leasing unit run by its parent company Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG).
“MAB Pesawat Sdn Bhd (MABP) is conducting an open tender for the sale of six AIRBUS 380-800 aircraft and/or its components. MABP invites interested buyers to send their proposals via email to: [email protected], cc’d to [email protected]”, the notice reads, giving a deadline of noon Malaysia time on Aug 12.
Malaysia Airlines has six A380s in its fleet and has already mothballed three of them. Its parent announced in May that it planned to retire all the A380s over the next few months.
“We’re cognisant of the challenges of how to sell the aircraft… but we’re exploring ways,” MAG’s group Chief Executive Officer Izham Ismail said at a media briefing, according to industry website FlightGlobal.
MAG wants to get rid of the ageing 486-seat jets, which have three aisles of three seats, and replace them with wide-body aircraft, which are expected to go into service in 2025.
Malaysian Airlines’ fleet is mainly made up of Airbus A380s, 350s and 330s. It also has Boeing 737-800s. MAS Kargo flies Airbus A330-200s. Low-cost carrier Firefly and Sabah-based MASwings fly Viking’s DH6 Twin Otter and ATRs, made by an Airbus/Leonardo partnership. MAS offers no price guidelines on its internet offer but LinkedIn News Asia Managing Editor Chris Anderson gave a guestimate. “If you were thinking of getting one of these planes at a low bargain discount, well… an AIRBUS 380 will still set you back about $400 million. Though with the A380s falling out of favour, some are saying the planes could potentially go for as low as $100 million. What a steal!”
MAS’s local rival AirAsia is looking beyond the airline business to generate profits in the region. The brainchild of Malaysian entrepreneur Tony Fernandes said this month AirAsia would buy Gojek’s operations in Thailand to offer ride-hailing and deliver groceries and beauty products.
Source: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50902206/malaysia-airlines-offers-six-aircraft-for-sale-on-linkedin/