News
09 April 2010
MASwings takes delivery of 10th and final ATR 72-500
MASwings takes delivery of its 10th and final ATR aircraft today in a handover ceremony held in Toulouse, France.
Present to witness the ceremony are Datuk Masidi Manjun, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment Sabah representing YAB Datuk Seri Panglima Musa Hj Aman, Chief Minister of Sabah, MASwings and ATR officials and other local dignitaries.
Speaking at the ceremony, Dato’ Mohd Salleh Ahmad Tabrani, Managing Director, MASwings said “We are excited to finally being able to operate with completely new fleet of aircraft. We will bid farewell to our Fokker 50 by mid April achieving our aircraft renewal program target”.
Currently, MASwings is operating with 9 ATR and 1 Fokker 50 aircraft. The delivery of the 10th ATR will allow MASwings to phase out all it aging Fokker 50 fleet and to operate with entirely brand new fleet of aircraft.
Dato Salleh added “The delivery of the 10th ATR is significant as it allows MASwings to expand its network by adding frequencies and new destinations. Tourism industry can look forward to potential increase in tourist arrivals with better transport links and increased frequencies”.
To date, MASwings is able to increase its flight frequencies from an average of 600 per week to more than 950 flights per week. Passenger numbers have also increased significantly from an average of 62,000 a month in the year 2009 to more than 88,000 passengers within the last two months this year.
The reliability of the aircraft has also further improved MASwings on-time performance at 93.11% punctuality rate.
Also present at the ceremony was Mr Stephane Mayer, ATR’s Chief Executive Officer whom described the delivery of the 10th aircraft as “an important milestone of MASwings-ATR partnership, as ATR has now delivered all the 10 aircraft of the order booked in 2007. We are pleased to contribute to the development of the regional operations of MASwings with daily support, and we are delighted to see the success they are experiencing with their ATRs”.
He added, “We are confident that in the near future, according to such success, we will see additional ATRs flying in Malaysia under the colours of MASwings”. He concluded, “We would like to particularly thank both ATRs’ and MASwings’ teams, which have been working hardly for more than two years in order to achieve the delivery of the whole fleet of 10 aircraft”.
During the ceremony in Toulouse, MASwings also unveiled the ONE MALAYSIA logo on the 10th ATR in support of ONE MALAYSIA, the national’s pledge anchored by the Government of Malaysia.
Issued By: Corporate Communications Department MASwings