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Malindo Air receives Boeing's first 737 Max 8
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Malindo Air CEO Chandran Rama Muthy (from second left to right), Boeing Commercial Airplanes Asia Pacific and India sales senior vice president Dinesh Keskar, Kuala Lumpur International Airport director general of civil aviation Dato' Sri Azharuddin and Lion Group co-founder, Indonesian tycoon and politician Rusdi Kirana pose for a photograph during the welcoming ceremony of the Boeing 737 Max 8 at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on May 22. (JP/Stefani Ribka)
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alaysia-based airline Malindo Air is the first airline to receive the Boeing 737 Max 8, a new aircraft that Boeing says is more fuel efficient and lowers operational costs.
Malindo Air, part of Lion Group, welcomed the new aircraft on Monday. The group's co-founder, Indonesian tycoon and politician Rusdi Kirana, Boeing Commercial Airplanes Asia Pacific and India sales senior vice president Dinesh Keskar and Malindo Air CEO Chandran Rama Muthy attended the ceremony.
Boeing says its 737 Max 8 operates at costs 8 percent lower than its rival Airbus' A320neo and consumes 9 percent less fuel, as well as 14 percent less fuel than the most efficient single-aisle airplane, the Boeing 737 Next Generation (NG), and 20 percent less fuel than the original 737NG (1998 entry into service).
(Read also: Tourism Ministry, Lion Air Group discuss new routes, partnership)
"These new aircraft will allow us to go to further destinations and will play a key role in providing lower air fares to our customers," Chandran said in a statement.
Malindo Air will receive four aircraft of the new series this year operating as "Batik Malaysia," a re-branding of the airline starting in the second half of the year.
They will be deployed mostly for chartered flights, with a maiden route of Kuala Lumpur to Singapore. (bbn)
