Draft:History of Malaysia Airlines

2006–2010: Recovery from unprofitability

Malaysia Airlines Boeing 747-400 Hibiscus Livery in Sydney, 2007

Under the leadership of Idris Jala, MAS launched its BTP in 2006, developed using the Government-linked Company Transformation Manual as a guide. Under the various initiatives, launched together with the BTP, Malaysia Airlines switched from losses to profitability between 2006 and 2007. When the BTP came to an end, the airline posted a record profit of RM853 million (US$265 million) in 2007, ending a series of losses since 2005. The result exceeded the target of RM300 million by 184%.

In 2006 Rural Air services in east Malaysia which were mostly handled by the airlines turboprop Fokker 50 fleet were handed to Airasia under the new airline Fly Asian Express(FAX) as part of a rationalising effort. However the airline mismanaged most of the flights and was inexperienced to handle the aircrafts maintenance. It was then decided by the government of Malaysia that Airasia returns the rural air services back to Malaysia Airlines. Malaysia Airlines however decides to relaunch rural services using it's new subsidiary MASWings. The subsidiary would also replace its Fokker fleet with a more modern ATR-72

Route rationalising was one of the major contributors to the airline's return to profitability. MAS pared its domestic routes from 114 to 23, and also cancelled virtually all unprofitable international routes. It also rescheduled all of its flight timings and changed its operations model from point-to-point services to hub-and-spoke services. Additionally, the airline started Project Omega and Project Alpha to improve the company's network and revenue management. Emphasis has been placed on six areas - pricing, revenue management, network scheduling, opening storefronts, low-season strategy, and distribution management. MAS then pushed for new aircraft purchases, using its cash surplus of RM5.3 billion to eventually purchase new narrow- and wide-body aircraft.The new aircraft orders were for the upcoming 50 Boeing 737-800 and 15 updated Airbus A330-300 to replace their older aircrafts respectively.

Due to Idris Jala's appointment to the cabinet in August 2009, Tengku Azmil Zahruddin took over as the airline's new CEO. In December that year, MAS announced the purchase of 15 new Airbus A330 aircraft, with options for another 10. Expected to be delivered between 2011 and 2016, they are intended to operate on medium-haul routes to eastern Asia, Australia, and the Middle East. The airline's plans are to run the Airbus A380 planes, which were then introduced into service in 2012, on long-haul routes along with the Boeing 777s , the A330s on medium-haul routes, and Boeing 737 aircraft on short-haul routes.

In 2010 due to repeated delays on the delivery of the Airbus A380, Airbus offered partial compensation to the airline. The superjumbo was originally scheduled for delivery in 2007 but the project faced several delays.