Wednesday, October 15, 2008: With crude oil now at below US$90 a barrel, Malaysian Airlines had indicated that it may meet its net profit forecast of MYR400 million to MYR500 million this year.
Malaysian has also announced, at the Routes Leaders Forum 2008 in Kuala Lumpur, that it has postponed a decision on ordering widebody aircraft from the middle of this year to the end of this year.
“We are doing the best we can. Chances are slightly better with fuel prices going down,” said Datuk Seri Idris Jala, MAS Managing Director, to several media representatives at the show.
“It is still a very fragile situation,” he qualifies. “We have just begun to understand the impact of oil prices.”
He notes that while the airline has made a profit in the first and second quarters of the year, competition and over-capacity in the Asia-Pacific market has made things tough.
MAS currently has orders for 35 medium-haul B737-800s, and Mr Jala says that’s enough for now. In terms of long-haul wide bodied aircraft, MAS is ready to wait to see if they can get a better deal by picking up excess options dropped by other carriers.
