Malaysia Airlines quashes outsourcing rumours

Gavin Lipsith

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The national carrier has dismissed speculation that it is preparing to outsource its inflight retail operation

Inflight services division MAS Golden Boutique assistant general manager Raja Nordiana Zainal Shah told DFNI Asia that inflight retail was a value-added business that the company was not seeking to sell. "In challenging times for the aviation industry it is a nice business to have," she said. "Revenue is still increasing, up by 30% in 2005, and we are constantly innovating."

Shah said that the rumours may have arisen as a result of the airline's search for a back-office system provider. The carrier still conducts its inflight sales manually, and has recently prepared a shortlist of system providers. Shah said that one inflight concessionaire with a proprietary system had made a presentation. "We hosted one presentation from a retailer with its own back-office system, and naturally they raised the possibility of taking on the entire concession. We do have to resolve some back-office issues and clearly we want a better support system, but we have no plans to outsource the retail business immediately."

The company refused to rule out the possibility of outsourcing at a later stage, although it denied that it had held presentations with that aim in mind.