Malaysia Airlines adds India flights, eyes wider tie up with IndiGo 

The airline is investing in new products and focusing on time performance improvements, and taking measures to better customer experience.
| Photo Credit:
REUTERS

Malaysia Airlines is adding new flights, refreshing it’s onboard menu and discussing a wider commercial co-operation with IndiGo to grow its India footprint.

The Kuala Lumpur-based airline operates 77 flights a week to India and these will increase to 80 in the winter schedule, with extra frequencies to Ahmedabad and Thiruvananthapuram.

“We flew 1.3 million passengers to/from India in the first half of 2025. India contributes 11 per cent to our topline and around 20 per cent of our global traffic and thus is a very market for us,” said Captain Izham bin Ismail, group Managing Director, Malaysia Aviation Group, which runs the airline.

Traffic from India

Around 30 per cent of passengers travel between India and Malaysia, while 70 per cent connect onward to countries in South East Asia, China, Australia and New Zealand.

The airline is investing in new products and focusing on time performance improvements, and taking measures to better customer experience. This includes quarterly refresh in in-flight menus following a recent partnership with Oberoi Flight Kitchen. 

Captain Izham bin Ismail, group Managing Director, Malaysia Aviation Group

These changes are crucial as Malaysia Airlines has been focusing on larger international play. Revenue from international operations has doubled to around 90 percent in the past seven years with focus on more high yielding markets.

Taking off with IndiGo

In June, the airline launched ‘Bonus Side Trip’ – offering transiting passengers a free return ticket to domestic destinations in Malaysia.

“We launched the campaign keeping European customers in mind but we are getting traction from India. It is heartwarming to see Malaysia Airlines brand is getting well recognised in India,” said Ismail, who worked as a pilot before taking up managerial roles in the airline.

He said talks are on with IndiGo to expand the code share partnership to cover other countries in South East Asia and Australia. Currently the airlines place marketing codes on each others’ domestic flights. “IndiGo is a good partner,” he said.

Ismail said the airline’s cargo volume has increased by 4 per cent year-on-year and the freight business has not been impacted by uncertainties caused by tariffs as it does not operate any flights to the US. “Our main markets for cargo are Europe and Asia Pacific region. We don’t have direct connectivity to the US,” he said.

Published on August 8, 2025