KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Airlines aims to become the first full-service carrier in Asia to digitise its platforms and develop mobile applications that would lift it back to the glory of its heyday, said Malaysia Airlines Berhad (MAB) CEO Peter Bellew.
To that end, MAB unveiled the MABHackathon – Malaysia’s first airline mobile applications development challenge, which began in Nov last year.
Bellew said the challenge was designed to harness innovation and creativity among Malaysia’s own talents to help the airline soar.
“The MABHackathon is about giving the opportunity to the digital community to contribute and collaborate with Malaysia Airlines in improving the customer experience and the efficiency of our operations, with the introduction of various innovative solutions.
“We were delighted to receive such positive responses from university students, budding entrepreneurs and business partners to be a part of the airlines’ digital transformation journey, via the MABHackathon,” Bellew told reporters after the grand finale of the MABHackathon at the Malaysia Airlines Training Academy (MAA), Kelana Jaya.
The two-day event saw 100 participants, grouped into 21 teams, competing to develop mobile application prototypes from creative and innovative ideas, utilising the application programming interface (API) and platforms provided by Malaysia Airlines Bhd’s IT division, Amadeus and IBM.
Ukay Wizard bagged the grand prize in the category of tracking unaccompanied minors/special needs passengers and received RM20,000 and economy class return tickets to London.
First runner-up, The Gravity Wolfpack and second runner-up, Paper Plane, designed applications in the in-flight entertainment (IFE) category, and walked away with RM15,000 and RM10,000, as well as return economy class tickets to Sydney and Seoul respectively.
Special awards for most promising solutions were handed to Fly Hackers in the auto-upgrade and business class-bidding category.
“We hope participants will benefit from this initiative and continue to pursue their passion for innovation. This will now be a yearly programme, and we want to encourage more local talents to participate,” said Bellew.
All 21 mobile applications were evaluated based on user interface and experience, innovation, impact, resources-sharing and overall quality.
The prototypes were presented to a panel of judges from the airline's subsidiaries (MASwings, Firefly, and Aerodarat Services); industry experts; as well as partners including Travel & Transportation Industry Leader; IBM Asia Pacific, Greater China and Japan; Maxis; and the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC).
Present were Malaysia Airlines chief operating officer Captain Izham Ismail, chief information officer Tan Kok Meng and MDEC director data economy, Dr Karl Ng.