SEPANG: Malaysia Aviation Group’s (MAG) pilgrimage airline Amal is gaining a good traction for Umrah and Hajj, banking on huge Muslims population in Southeast Asia.
Economic Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali said Amal has a significant spillover impact to Malaysia’s economy due to its potential of strategic collaboration with low-cost carriers in the region, connecting pilgrims from secondary cities to Kuala Lumpur before embarking for Umrah and Hajj.
“Management of Umrah and Hajj have opened more business opportunities for local tourism players and jobs creation, which would boost the country’s economy,” he said after officiating Amal launch here today.
Azmin said Malaysians umrah pilgrims had risen 8.4 per cent annually after receiving additional quotas from the Saudi Arabia government in 2013.
“Umrah pilgrims grew from 196,072 in 2014 to 250,809 in 2017, while the total pilgrims expenditure for Hajj and Umrah surged 24 per cent annually from RM1.56 billion in 2014 to RM2.67 billion in 2017,” he added.
According to Tabung Haji, Malaysians Hajj pilgrims’ expenditure stood at RM926 million in 2017 against RM443 million in 2014.
“The statistics show that Umrah and Hajj have huge prospect if Malaysia’s Amal ready to adopt or utilise new technology and provide innovative products and services for pilgrims,” he said.
He urged Amal to tap into more new markets in the region by collaborating with civil societies and regional low-cost carriers to bring in more pilgrims to the country, before embarking their journey to the Holy Land.
MAG had received a nod from its main shareholder, Khazanah Nasional Bhd, to pull out Amal from Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAB) to stand as a separate entity in early 2018.
Amal’s specialised charter services for Hajj and Umrah pilgrimage will use Airbus A380 aircraft with 489 seats.
MAB said the airline would also re-configure the A380 by end of 2020.
NST Business previously reported that Amal had secured a provisional Air Service Licence (ASL) and currently in the midst of applying for an Air Operator's Certificate (AOC).
Amal began its operations in October last year, and was officially launched today with the unveiling of its official name and logo.
Amal’s inaugural Umrah services took off last October with 113 charter flights carrying a total of 50,000 pilgrims.
Amal is projected as the world’s first airline to cater specifically only for Umrah and Hajj pilgrims to Jeddah and Madinah.
Amal operates up to three daily flights to Jeddah and Madinah via the A380-800 aircraft.