Malaysian to leasy A380s!

Asian carrier Malaysia Airlines is to fly six of the world’s largest passenger jets, the Airbus A380-800.

The Kuala Lumpur-based flag carrier said that deliveries of the first three of the giant aircraft are scheduled for 2007.

Malaysia will lease the 555-seat planes from its holding company PMB, which today signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the European manufacturer.

Datoi Md Nor Yusof, the airline’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer said: “With this acquisition, we believe Malaysia Airlines would be even better equipped to sustain and improve on our position as a premier carrier.

“We are very well positioned in the region and combined with the encouraging traffic growth on our flagship long-haul routes, slot constraints in our key destinations and the A380’s expected cost advantages, we believe there is a strong economic rationale for the addition to the fleet, even more so by the time we take delivery in 2007.”

Currently, Airbus has 95 orders for its super-jumbo A380, the first of which is due to enter service in 2006.
*********
link: http://news.airwise.com/display/story.html?name=2003/01/1042202116.html