KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAS) is looking to buy up to 30 new Airbus A330neo or Boeing 787 jets, with representatives of both aircraft manufacturers courting the national flag-carrier over a sale worth as high as US$7 billion, based on list prices.
The order could be preceded by lease agreements for up to a dozen used Airbus A330 or Boeing 777 jets, according to a report by Australian Business Traveller.
“It’s going well, we have a very good offer, but the prices aren’t good enough yet – we still think there’s more work to be done on that,” Malaysia Airlines chief executive officer Peter Bellew told the Australian portal during a briefing in Sydney.
Bellew said MAS is in very active negotiations with both Airbus and Boeing to get a good deal out of them.
He hoped to visit Brisbane Airport to begin preliminary discussions about restarting flights to Brisbane.
The report said the delivery schedules of the planes is also include in the discussion, as the airline intended for around 15 of the new jets would replace older aircraft in the fleet, with the rest earmarked for expansion.
Meanwhile, MAS is casting around for the lease of up to a dozen used Airbus A330 or Boeing 777 aircraft, some of which would be used to resume flights between Brisbane and Kuala Lumpur as well as to add new routes into secondary Chinese cities.
It is also reported that MAS would be upgrading popular routes to India, Bali and Hong Kong from their current Boeing 737 jets.
The Australian portal said MAS will also take delivery of 10 new Boeing 737 MAX 10 jets from 2021, which will be fitted with a new fully-flat direct aisle access business class seat supplied by Thompson Aero.