MAS' A380 to fly to Paris daily from March 1

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Airlines (MAS) is all set to operate its daily A380 Kuala Lumpur-Paris-Kuala Lumpur flight service beginning March 1, with the arrival of the fifth A380 at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Saturday.

The French capital will be the second European destination after London in the national flag carrier's long haul network to be serviced by the superjumbo, the company said in a statement here.

The 494-seater Airbus A380 will replace the current 282-seater B777, increasing daily seat capacity by 75 per cent.

The national carrier said that economy class travel from Kuala Lumpur on the state-of-art A380 was now possible at all inclusive return airfares starting from only RM3,681.

The all-inclusive promotional return fares for business class from Kuala Lumpur to Paris start from RM15,026, while return first class fares start from RM31,491.

The A380 service has thus far received encouraging response from travellers for both the Kuala Lumpur-Paris and Paris-Kuala Lumpur sectors.

MAS said booking trends for March 2013 showed a positive hike by 87 per cent for the Kuala Lumpur-Paris route and an encouraging 123 per cent for the Paris-Kuala Lumpur route, as compared to bookings in March 2012.

Its membership in the oneworld alliance from February 1 has contributed to this positive development.

Meanwhile, MASholidays, the travel and tour arm of Malaysia Airlines, is offering three exclusive yet affordable and promotional tour packages from Malaysia to Paris in conjunction with the national carrier's commencement of A380 services to the French capital.

The national carrier is engaging French chef Amandine Chaignot to design the menu for its A380 Paris-Kuala Lumpur route.

MAS' A380's seat configuration of 494 comprises eight first class and 350 economy class seats on the main deck and 66 business class and 70 economy class seats on the upper deck.

It is the eighth operator of this super-jumbo.

Customers can book their travel on MAS through all distribution channels, mainly www.malaysiaairlines.com, Malaysia Airlines 24-hour toll free number at 130088 3000, MHmobile app, MHBuddy in Malaysia Airlines Facebook, MAS ticket offices and appointed agents throughout Malaysia. Bernama