Malaysia Airlines first started serving Brisbane in the early 1990’s, the carrier always performed decently on the route until major incidents occurred and the airline discontinued the Kuala Lumpur – Brisbane service on August 8th, 2015. At the time of cancelling the route, the airline was in some serious trouble.

Quitting the Brisbane route was part of the carriers plan to bring down costs and try to rebuild as an airline. This was also not long after the MH370 & MH17 incidents which were the cause for the airlines’ trouble. Brisbane was the only Australian route pulled at the time with services to Sydney, Melbourne and Perth continuing on as usual.

Now after 3 years, Malaysia Airlines will return to the sunshine state!

The airline will operate 4 services a week from the carriers home base of Kuala Lumpur down to Brisbane. Malaysia will use their A330-200 on the route and the service will commence on the 6th of June 2018.

Malaysia Airlines A330-300 (Image – Malaysia Airlines)

Here’s the schedule for the flight:

MH 135 MON/WED/THUR/SAT KUL 09:50 BNE 19:55

MH 134 MON/WED/THU/SAT BNE 23:20 KUL 05:50

Per Brisbane Airport,

“We are delighted to welcome Malaysia Airlines back into the Brisbane Airport family as these flights will further enhance Brisbane’s global reach, providing a convenient, direct connection to Kuala Lumpur, a thriving international hub.

“Via Kuala Lumpur passengers will have access to Malaysia Airlines’ extensive network including India, South East Asia and the UK.

“Additionally these flights are expected to bring more than 60,000 international visitors to Queensland each year, many of which will travel onwards to some of Australia’s most desirable tourist destinations via Brisbane Airport’s comprehensive regional network of any airport in Australia.

“All in all, it is another significant step for the city and state in positioning Brisbane as a major Asia Pacific centre and the future gateway to Australia,”

As I mentioned above briefly, Malaysia will use their A330-300 aircraft which is fitted with 2 classes, Business and Economy. The aircraft has 27 XL Vantage Business Class seats, each with direct aisle access and they measure to 60” in pitch and 20” in width.

In the Economy cabin, there’s 247 seats in a 2-4-2 configuration. Each seat has a pitch of 32” and a width of 17.5.

Malaysia Airlines A330 Business Class (Image – Malaysia Airlines)

Overall It’s great to see Malaysia Airlines returning to Brisbane and I’m sure it’ll be a popular option for travellers going to Asia and beyond. It’s also great news for award travellers as Malaysia is in Oneworld meaning a lot of redemption opportunities and MH also has some good availability, even in Business.