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Malaysia Airlines returned to Brisbane for the first time since March 2023 on Sunday morning, introducing five direct services a week to Kuala Lumpur.
The services, on Airbus A330-300 aircraft, will add more than 75,000 inbound seats a year and are expected to add $54 million to the local economy annually.
Speaking after flight MH135 landed at Brisbane Airport at 6.42am on Sunday, Malaysia Airlines’ commercial head, Wayne Borland, said the city had been a “missing link” in the carrier’s Australian market.
Malaysia Airlines back at Brisbane Airport on Sunday.Credit: Brisbane Airport
And early signs point to a successful return.
“Our [return] flight today leaving is 100 per cent full,” Borland said.
“I know that’s just one day, but we’re very confident that we’re going to fill those planes, and hopefully, in time, move it up to a daily flight.”
Borland said the airline’s Kuala Lumpur hub would be a convenient gateway for travellers.
“We’re looking forward very much to bringing people from around the world – and particularly India – to this wonderful state and, of course, taking Queenslanders out onto our network through South-East Asia and the rest of the world,” he said.
The former Labor state government made a concerted effort to attract direct Air India flights to Brisbane Airport, a campaign LNP Premier David Crisafulli has continued.
Earlier this year, Crisafulli tasked Tourism Minister Andrew Powell with the responsibility of attracting a direct link to India.
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“At a time when more people of Indian origin are coming to Queensland to live and invest, it’s important that we do have those direct flights,” Crisafulli said in June.
For now, the premier will have to be content with a two-legged journey, but Powell said using hubs such as Kuala Lumpur was a “fantastic opportunity” for Queensland’s tourism industry.
“One of the things we heard clearly from the industry is that we need to focus on some key hubs that connect Queensland with the rest of the world, and Kuala Lumpur is one of those, particularly servicing the largest-populated country in the world, in India, with 10 destinations,” he said on Sunday.
Brisbane Airport chief executive Gert-Jan de Graaff said Malaysia Airlines’ return was a welcome one.
“After a couple of years of close conversations, discussions and building up the market, they’ve decided to come back to us,” he said.
“They’re our 35th international destination and our 26th international airline operating to Brisbane, and that’s very exciting.
“Probably the best thing you can do as an airport CEO is celebrate a new destination and a new airline at the same time.”
De Graaff said the airport’s new security checkpoints, which would enable passengers to keep liquids, aerosols, gels and laptops in their bags during screening, would be open by the end of the year.
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“That’s the final sprint we’re making to make sure that we’re opening the security checkpoints before Christmas in the domestic terminal – that’s already happening,” he said.
“We do that step by step, and one of the checkpoints is already operational in the international terminal.”
Brisbane Airport, which was investing $5 billion through its Future BNE program, was expecting a record 25 million passengers to pass through its terminals in 2025.
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