By Putu Deny Wijaya
Malaysia Airlines Expand Codeshare Agreement With Singapore Airlines
Malaysia Airlines and Singapore Airlines will revive and expand its codeshare arrangement between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur to 15 domestic Malaysian destinations, seven European locations, and two South African cities. This comes after Malaysia and Singapore announced that from November 29, a Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) arrangement will be implemented, allowing consumers to travel easily for business or pleasure. The airlines said in a joint statement on Thursday that the major expansion of codeshare agreements within Malaysia and outside the two nations comes amid the progressive reopening of international borders and increased demand for air travel.
- Customers of Singapore Airlines will be able to fly to and from Kuala Lumpur starting November 29 as the company adds 15 additional codeshare destinations throughout Malaysia. Alor Setar, Bintulu, Johor Bahru, Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Terengganu, Kuantan, Kuching, Labuan, Langkawi, Miri, Penang, Sandakan, Sibu, and Tawau are among the places to visit.
- Customers of Malaysia Airlines will be able to book flights from Singapore to seven European destinations, including Barcelona, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Moscow, Munich, Rome, and Zurich, as well as Cape Town and Johannesburg in South Africa, beginning January 1 next year. These codeshare arrangements will be gradually expanded to encompass more sites on the Singapore Airlines or Malaysia Airlines networks, according to the airlines.
According to the release, this major expansion of codeshare agreements is the first part of a broad commercial deal inked by Malaysia Airlines and SIA in 2019. The airlines seek to form a cooperative commercial agreement between Malaysia and Singapore as part of the accord. The codeshare flights will eventually become available for purchase through the airlines’ separate booking channels, subject to regulatory permissions.
This would allow partners to coordinate flight schedules, provide combined pricing offerings, align corporate programs, and look at tying the KrisFlyer and Enrich frequent flyer programs together. Both airlines would also look at collaborating on tourist marketing activities and multi-stop flights that would allow consumers to go to other Malaysian destinations through Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.
“Malaysia Airlines looks forward to the long-awaited Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, the first VTL for Malaysia. This is indeed very timely considering the upcoming festive season and year-end holidays where residents of both countries have traditionally spent their time either in Singapore or Malaysia.
“We look forward to more VTLs for Malaysia so we can safely revive travel globally. Our codeshare expansion with SIA to Europe and South Africa couldn’t happen at a better time and we are especially grateful for the synergy and warm relationship between the two airlines that have made this partnership possible,” said Malaysia Airlines Group Chief Executive Officer Izham Ismail.
SIA executive officer Goh Choon Phong, also said this partnership will help to boost the tourism industries in both countries, as well as the wider Southeast Asia region.
“The partnership is testament to the spirit of collaboration that underpins the strong and long-standing relationship between Singapore Airlines and Malaysia Airlines,” he added.
Putu Deny Wijaya was always an aviation enthusiast by heart, growing up in Indonesia where air transport is very vital. His first love is The Queen of The Skies, serving the trunk routes between Jakarta and Denpasar. He brought along this passion with him throughout college by conducting his bachelor study abroad in the Netherlands for the purpose of experiencing a nonstop 14-hour long-haul flight. For Putu the sky’s the limit when talking about aviation. He hopes that he would be able to combine his passion for aviation and knowledge of finance at the same time.