KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 14: Of late, many accolades have been heaped upon the pilots of a Malaysian Airlines flight into London’s Heathrow airport over their “crabbing” landing during the windy and icy conditions in the aftermath of Storm Darragh.
Apparently, this is often done by experienced pilots to safely land their aircraft during the winter months when conditions are rather treacherous.
One such pilot who has done this before is Captain Azlan Zainal Abidin when he also flew with Malaysia Airlines then. He remembers doing “crabbing” a number of times in many airports in Europe, especially in London, Amsterdam and Frankfurt on the B747-400 aircraft.
“When one attempts to do a “crabbing” landing, the aircraft has to move at a certain angle with reference to the runway direction so that it can stabilise to withstand the strong winds,” he told The Weekly Echo.
While that may have been his frequent safety undertakings many winters ago, the 60-something Captain Azlan still wants to take to the skies again for a number of reasons.
First, he wants to prove that the air charter business still has a place to operate alongside scheduled airlines and also to complement them.
Second, he wants to show that the abrupt halt to his then air charter business (EagleXpress Air Charter) in 2017 was not because of poor business plans, inefficiency or mismanagement. But it was because of a sudden and extraordinary financial requirement imposed by a newly-established aviation regulator then.
That scuttled his business for eight long years until now although he had previously been operating successfully between 2011 and 2016 with four B747-400 aircraft and one A330-200 with its main customers drawn from the likes of Saudi Arabia Airlines and Flynas in Saudi Arabia on the ACMI (aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance) charter.
Back then EagleXPress flew to Chad, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Mauritania, Senegal, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan, South Africa, Iran ,Iraq, Turkey, Spain, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Malaysia. It had staff and crew from Malaysia, Morocco, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Tunisia, Turkey and Lebanon who were based in Kuala Lumpur and Jeddah.
Despite his temporary setback, Captain Azlan is undaunted because he knows his stuff well, being an experienced wide-body aircraft pilot for many years.
Today, he has put together plans to revive his air charter business with the experienced colleagues who were with him before. The air charters will be under a Full Wet Lease or ACMI format, which is an agreement between two airlines, where the lessor agrees to provide ACMI to the lessee.
Once he gets the Air Service Permit (ASP) from the authorities this time around, Captain Azlan is optimistic that it will set the ball rolling on a number of fronts like providing passengers with an additional option to fly, more affordable fares for the Haj, Umrah and other religious pilgrimages as well as leisure travel; creating more jobs for Malaysians and generating additional revenue for the country.
And he is not just thinking of the domestic but also opportunities in booming regional and international markets.
“As in the past, I have flown passengers on their pilgrimage from Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan and India to Jeddah and Madinah. I would like to prove that a Malaysian entity like ours can be a force to be reckoned with in the air charter business as our competitors then were Air Atlanta, Wamos and HiFly,” he said with a strong measure of confidence.
Captain Azlan hopes the authorities will be able to see the big picture in that air travel takes many forms – some travellers prefer scheduled flights while others may opt for less time-pressured air charters.
Given that air travel is on the rise after the Covid-19 pandemic, Captain Azlan wants to tap on this significant development to provide passengers, both domestic and foreign, an affordable option through air charters.
In 2022 and 2023, the air travel market recovered strongly from the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic, driven by the lifting of travel restrictions.
According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), global air passenger traffic in 2022 reached about 80% of pre-pandemic levels (2019), with total passenger numbers reaching around four billion globally. Global airline revenues in 2022 surged to US$779 billion, a substantial increase from 2021, but still below 2019 levels of approximately US$838 billion.
In 2023, the air travel market continued to rebound with the global aviation industry approaching 95-96% of pre-pandemic levels in terms of passenger traffic.
The outlook for air travel in 2024 and 2025 generally appears positive. Global passenger traffic is expected to fully return to pre-pandemic levels this year. Growth in international travel, especially to Asia-Pacific, will be key to this full recovery.
Given the relatively higher prices from scheduled airlines as they recover from their pandemic losses, Captain Azlan sees a sweet spot in the air charter business by providing more seat capacity.
He is focused on that chance and second wind to make Malaysia soar high in the aviation industry from 2025.
WE