This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on January 10, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Airlines Bhd will reinstate direct flights between Kuala Lumpur and Brisbane on June 6 after a three-year hiatus.

In a statement yesterday, the national carrier said it will operate four times per week to Brisbane using an Airbus A330-300 with up to 290 seats. The airline will be operating every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.

“Malaysia Airlines needs to be agile in order to respond quickly to market demands and we are very excited to be reinstating Brisbane back to our network. Brisbane is strategically placed, in close proximity to many of Queensland’s tourist destinations, which will facilitate our growth plans focusing on key business and leisure cities,” said Malaysia Airlines chief executive officer Izham Ismail in the statement.

Malaysia Airlines dropped its daily services to the Queensland capital in August 2015, as part of its network rationalisation exercise under the 12-point MAS Recovery Plan announced in 2014.

Brisbane Airport Corp spokeswoman Leonie Vandeven was then reported as saying that it had no warning the flights were set to end. “We were disappointed, and must confess surprised, to read the news that our partnership with Malaysia Airlines spanning some 25 years has ended so suddenly,” she said in The Sydney Morning Herald published on June 25, 2015.

According to Izham, Malaysia Airlines has had a long presence in Queensland since the commencement of its operations in Brisbane on Oct 31, 1990.

Reports in Australian media yesterday said Malaysia Airlines’ return to Brisbane is a coup for Queensland tourism, as the four flights a week are expected to generate A$98 million (RM307.72 million) for the Queensland tourism industry over the next three years.