Cargo capacity squeeze on Malaysia route

Malaysian Airlines is to withdraw its flights to SA from the end of this month, according to Fanie van Rooyen of Aireps, general sales agent (GSA) for the airline. That’s going to be a bit of an issue for shippers dealing with Malaysia and other parts of the Far East, and Argentina – knocking about 60-90-tonnes a week of cargo capacity off the Johannesburg route, and 80-100- t off Cape Town. This with the airline flying a Boeing 777 into Johannesburg on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, and a Boeing 747 into Cape Town on Wednesday and Sunday on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Buenos Aires, and on Thursday and Monday on its way back from BA to Kuala Lumpur. Badly hit will be Cape Town lobster traffic, with the airline having carried about 50-70t a month of the shellfish out of the city last year on its way to the big demand markets in Asia. The withdrawal is a result of the airline having cash problems in recent times, and with cutting the not-so-highearning flights out of its schedule as one of its cost-saving tactics. Joining the SA flights will be Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur-Istanbul-Dubai flights, also due to end on January 31. Withdrawing the two routes will cut 15 flights a week from Malaysian Airlines’ Kuala Lumpur schedule. The airline’s final flight will depart on January 31.