KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 27): Malaysia Airlines Bhd is set to lease six second-hand widebody Airbus A330-200 aircraft, so as to replace six narrowbody Boeing 737 that are being returned to lessors.

Group chief executive officer Peter Bellew said the planes were once part of now-bankrupt Air Berlin’s fleet, and are being leased from the globally renowned aircraft leasing company AerCap.

“These ex-Air Berlin aircraft...they have recently had a massive refurbishment programme done on the aircraft. They have a brand new interior and galleys and have had heavy maintenance conducted on them.

“The six aircraft that we are bringing in with this deal, the cost of them would be far lower than the lease costs we currently have on our existing widebody aircraft, and the passenger comfort is probably nicer than what we currently have.

“This will allow us to give a very rapid improvement to the product next year, for example the widebody aircraft will have a full lie-flat bed [for business class] and a full in-flight entertainment system, and the type of galley that you would need [in order] to do service for flights over four hours,” he told reporters at a media briefing today.

The six A330-200s are expected to begin arriving from February next year, and are expected to be used for destinations such as Mumbai, New Delhi, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Bali.

Bellew did not share as to how much the leasing costs were, but said it was a “cheeky offer at a low price”.

On another matter, Bellew said he had received calls today from members of the media, asking him if he was going to leave Malaysia Airlines for the low cost airline of his homeland, Ireland’s Ryanair.

“I got four or five calls in the last few hours, asking me if the press conference today was called for, to say that I was leaving to go to Ryanair. Just to be very clear, we are going through some challenges at the moment, but I am very happy to be here as CEO of Malaysia Airlines.

“They have a perfectly good CEO over at Ryanair at the moment,” he quipped.