Malaysia Airlines (MAS) will end the Kuala Lumpur-Istanbul service on 26 August.
In an email response to Flightglobal, the carrier also confirmed it will downgauge capacity on the Kuala Lumpur-Paris route, by deploying Boeing 777-200ERs to replace the Airbus A380s. It did not specify when this change will take place.
“Malaysia Airlines is undertaking a network rationalisation exercise as part of the Recovery Plan announced last year. This has affected some routes which saw [a] complete cessation, or a reduction in frequency,” it explains.
FlightMaps Analytics shows that the airline competes with Turkish Airlines on the Kuala Lumpur-Istanbul route. It also competes with Air France on the Kuala Lumpur-Paris route.
Istanbul would be the fifth destination MAS is dropping this year. In recent months, the airline had ended services from Kuala Lumpur to Frankfurt, Kochi, Kunming and Krabi.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
