Airbus executive vice-president (International) Wouter van Wersch said the company is in discussion at this moment with Malaysia Airlines for the sale of its narrow-body airplanes. (Photo by Mohd Izwan Mohd Nazam/The Edge)

KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 15): European aerospace giant Airbus is negotiating a sale of its narrow-body airplanes — A320 and A321neo — to Malaysia’s flag carrier Malaysia Airlines Bhd, says Airbus executive vice-president (International) Wouter van Wersch.

“We are in discussion at this moment. What I can say is that we have the A320 and A321neo [in Airbus’ single-aisle A320 family], which are one of the most successful aircraft in the history of aviation. They bring the right reduction in CO2 [carbon dioxide] emission and noise levels, and [give] passenger comfort. We would love to see this aircraft flying with Malaysia Airlines. We will see what comes out of it [discussion],” he told a media briefing here on Thursday.

“The A320 family is the right and best aircraft family for the Asian region, particularly Southeast Asia and Malaysia. Not only because the product line is the perfect fit for connecting Malaysia to Southeast Asia, but many of the A320 parts are made in Malaysia,” Airbus president for Asia-Pacific Anand Stanley said.

In January, Malaysia Airlines chief executive officer Datuk Captain Izham Ismail told The Edge Malaysia in an interview that the national carrier plans to add eight new narrow-body aircraft to its current narrow-body fleet of 42 Boeing 737-800 NGs.

Izham had also said the airline is considering exercising its option to purchase 20 A330neo wide-body aircraft for expansion and the replacement of existing aircraft. In August 2022, Malaysia Airlines ordered 20 A330neos, which came with the option. Malaysia Airlines’ current wide-body fleet comprises 21 A330s and seven A350s.

This forms part of its fleet renewal exercise that will see Malaysia Airlines operate 50 narrow-body and 50 wide-body aircraft by 2033, allowing it to compete directly with its premium peers such as Singapore Airlines, Emirates and Qatar Airways.

Van Wersch declined to comment on the possibility of Malaysia Airlines exercising its A330neo option, except to say that “having the A330neo would bring unique synergies with our A320s and A321s because we have a high level of commonality between our aircraft”.

“This means that in terms of the training, crew and pilots, it is very easy to move from one type to another. It could be a good economic way of optimising for Malaysia Airlines in terms of training, spare parts cost, among others,” he added.

He noted that the aircraft maker’s immediate focus is to deliver Malaysia Airlines’ first of the 20 A330-900neos — which is expected to be a game-changer for the airline — next month.

“The aircraft has been fully painted and is now having its engines and cabins installed. It is on track,” says an Airbus spokesman.

Also in talks with Malaysia for A400M, C295 airlifter deals

Airbus is also negotiating the sale of additional A400M transport aircraft and the smaller C295 tactical transport aircraft to the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF), according to van Wersch.

“We are currently in discussion with the Malaysian government on the opportunities to bring more A400Ms and also the C295 to the country. We do think that the combination of these two aircraft would be a very good asset to the Malaysian air force from a strategic but also tactical airlift perspective in order to continue to support peace operations, but also aerial refuelling and firefighting,” he said, adding that there is nothing firm yet.

There are currently four A400Ms in operation with the RMAF.

“It is quite [an] exciting time. There are quite a lot of opportunities to bring more [Airbus] products to Malaysia,” he added.

Today, Malaysia is one of Airbus’ top 20 priority countries in the world.

“Airbus has been here for more than 40 years. It is our third biggest market in Asia-Pacific, after India and China,” van Wersch said.

He added that the company has sold 280 commercial aircraft to Malaysia, with an order backlog of more than 400 aircraft, both single-aisle and wide-body, to be delivered in the coming years.

Anand said while the ongoing supply chain issues, particularly engine and cabin-interior shortages, have put pressure on the company's deliveries in the short and mid-term, overall it remains on track with its contractual targets.

“Yes, there are some challenges due to the supply chain issues but we are working closely with our suppliers to mitigate and meet our schedule ramp-up goals. Overall we remain on track for our production ramp-up,” he added.

Van Wersch said demand for jets has been “extremely high”.

“The rebound after Covid-19 has been surprisingly high. Nobody was expecting the rebound in orders to be so fast. So we are doing our utmost to ramp up as much as possible, but quality and safety are key in all our production processes.

“We have more than 4,000 companies that are supplying parts,” he said, noting that in the commercial aircraft sector, Airbus is contending with ongoing supply chain issues, particularly in engines and seats.

“A lot of the recovery is being driven by Asia-Pacific and within the region a lot of the recovery is driven by Malaysia. I see it as a positive story. Not only on the demand side with the airlines, but even across the supply chain in Malaysia,” said Anand.

Globally, Airbus has an order backlog of more than 8,500 commercial aircraft. The company now expects to hand over 770 aircraft this year, up from 735 in 2023 and 661 in 2022.

“The company’s production capacity has yet to return to 2019 levels (of 863 aircraft). That’s because we had reduced our production by 40% in the space of a few months at the start of Covid-19. Producing aircraft is not quite the same as producing cars, vacuum cleaners or washing machines, it really requires time to ramp up again.

“Still we expect to get to a higher level than we ever produced before by 2028,” an Airbus spokesman said.

On competition from Chinese aircraft manufacturer Comac, the spokesman said: “We can see they are very active now. They are going to present competition and at Airbus we welcome competition. It is good for everyone.”

Malaysia Airlines’ Izham had previously said that it is agnostic to the aircraft manufacturer as long as it makes commercial sense to the airline.