The sector, Consumer, PESTLE, and Competitor Analysis of Malaysia Airlines

                As reported by MAVCOM (Malaysian Aviation Commission), the airline sector performance in Malaysia is very strong. Financial performance of the airline sector improved from MYR500 million (USD125.5 million) operating loss in 2014 to MYR1.6 billion (USD401.8 million) operating profit in 2017. Air connectivity of Malaysia has improved with the addition of approximately 360,000 seats and eight international destinations in 2017. Asia has been the principal focus region, with India, China ASEAN and accounting for 59.8 per cent air traffic rights as awarded by MAVCOM. 56.4% of airports are within the Asia Pacific with connections to Malaysia (Blue Swan Daily, 2018).

Consumer Trends of Malaysia Airlines

        Passenger traffic of Malaysia recorded an 8.1 per cent growth i.e. year on year that translated into 99.1 million domestic as well as international passengers (The Star, 2018). As stated by Malaysia Airlines Berhad, it “reported a strong result” for 2016 because of the “accelerated” bookings, major emphasis on customer service, all-inclusive economy fares, and premium business traveller. The brand core is “The Golden Rule: treat customers as you would wish to be treated yourself”. The focus of the Malaysia Airline is on improving customer experience and reducing cost. The airline has observed hard push on profitability by adding customer satisfaction strategies. Customer satisfaction about Malaysia Airlines has been up 7 percentage points in 2016 as compared to a corresponding quarter a year ago, and an all-time record was reached in October 2016.  Steady improvements in customer satisfaction continued with quality food and beverage (Manjur, 2017).

PESTLE Analysis of Malaysia Airlines

Political:

        Malaysia Airlines faced an obstacle during the recession and a net loss of RM433 million tax was reported in 2012 as compared to RM2.52 billion in 2011. The operational cost of the airline is increasing due to wage policies imposed by government (Malaysia Airlines, 2018).

Economic:

        Malaysia Airline faces rapid fuel cost growth; exchange rate fluctuation deviating revenue earning; and differentiated need (Devashish, 2011).

Social:

        Malaysia Airline faces social concerns such as flight phobia, greater safety concerns, and rising tourism trend among youth (Devashish, 2011).

Technological: Malaysia Airlines has technological concerns like increasing online purchasing trend, and integrated communication system (Devashish, 2011).

Legal:

    Malaysia Airline faces legal concerns like expensive landing charges and tightly regulated aviation market (Devashish, 2011).

Environment:

    Environment concerns of Malaysia Airlines are a reduction of CO2 emission and growing CSR practices (Devashish, 2011).

Competitor Analysis of Malaysia Airlines

            Main competitors of Malaysia Airlines are Air India, Jet Airways, Singapore Airlines, United Airlines, Etihad Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Emirates, Air France, Qatar Airways, and Turkish Airlines. A competitive strategy that Malaysia Airlines follows to maintain a competitive edge in the industry is lower cast. Malaysia Airlines follows the differentiation strategy: brand also known as MH (Malaysian Hospitality); the airline is acknowledged to have the best cabin crew of the world and it has won the Skytrax Award for the choice of passengers; the company provides five-star special charter service. Malaysia Airlines independently handle the market for each company it operates in and the company exports certain products to specific countries as well (Malaysia Airlines, 2018).