KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAS) will likely make an announcement on a possible order of the newly-improved Boeing B737 MAX as early as Wednesday, as the national carrier wastes no time in rolling out its growth plans.
Business Times understands that the order would be similar to Vietnamese budget carrier VietJet Air’s purchase of 100 B737 MAX 200 worth US$11.3 billion (RM46 billion) at list prices in May.
MAS could place up to half of the budget carrier’s order.
At the same time, there are also talks on a possible order for the new Airbus A321neo.
Former MAS chief executive officer (CEO) Christoph Mueller had previously said the airline was looking at long-range narrow body aircraft for 2018 onwards.
Currently, the long-range narrow body models in the market are B737 MAX and A321neo.
People familiar with the matter said the final decision would be announced on Wednesday, although they believed that the airline would eventually choose Boeing.
MAS CEO Peter Bellew told Business Times the airline was still talking to Boeing, Airbus and Bombardier about various options of aircraft models.
“News should be confirmed next week. (We are) looking at new and second-hand lease or buying the aircraft,” he replied to a query on Friday.
Boeing is keeping mum on the possible new order from MAS.
“As a matter of policy, we do not comment or speculate on future sales or customer discussions,” said Boeing communications director (Asia Pacific) Ken Morton in an email to Business Times.
Interestingly, MAS sent a media invitation on Friday for an event in Putrajaya on Wednesday.
It is understood that the new aircraft would be used for the national carrier’s next growth phase in the sub-five hour routes in the Asian region.
The airline’s future growth would rely a lot on narrow-body aircraft and the planes would be used to serve new leisure destinations that MAS will introduce at Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 next year, should the passenger service charge remains at the current rate.
Boeing and Airbus had been racing to sell their narrow-body aircraft over the last few years. The two biggest plane makers did not receive the massive order volume that they typically get at the Farnborough International Airshow two weeks ago.
Airbus led the race with its biggest order of 100 new A321neo from AirAsia Bhd for around US$12.6 billion at the event.
The Boeing 737 MAX also made its first appearance at Farnborough.
The latest model is touted to use 20 per cent less fuel. It has a maximum operating range of 3,500 nautical miles (6,510km), and 40 per cent less noise footprint than other narrow-body aircraft.