SEPANG, Nov 2 ― The Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG) is confident in fully restoring Malaysia Airlines Bhd’s (MAB) in-flight meal services by November 15, 2023, with better food and beverage products for passengers.

MAG group managing director Datuk Captain Izham Ismail said the recovery to normalcy is at 97 per cent at the moment, and it has been a tough journey since the airline ended its contract with Brahim’s Food Services (BFS) on August 31, 2023.

"When you run a business, you need to be focused on the objective, and while catering is not our core business, customer experience is.

"So, we have to find ways for us to reset our products, and that entails going through a very painful journey,” he said during the "Airline Leader Interview ― MAG” session held at the Centre for Aviation (Capa) Asia Aviation Summit and Sustainability Awards 2023 here today.

MAG is the parent company of national carrier Malaysia Airlines.

Nevertheless, Izham assured the passengers of MAB’s commitment to come out from the in-flight meal issue while looking into launching Asean menus as the carrier serves passengers around the globe.

"Our aspiration is to be a premium Asia-friendly airline. Hence, we have to depict the beauties of Asean and Asia with various menus,” he explained.

Izham said MAB currently has eight caterers supplying in-flight meals.

To recap, the longstanding catering contract between MAB and BFS ended on August 31, 2023, after extensive negotiations between the two parties since the fourth quarter of 2022 did not result in an amicable agreement.

Meanwhile, he said the airline recently received 24 hi-lift trucks, and by November 15, in-flight meal services will be back to normal.

Hi-lift trucks are an essential part of the overall airline inflight meal process in upholding food quality and safety standards with correct temperatures, preserving the freshness of hot and ambient meals while maintaining stringent practices throughout the process.

"We have 24 hi-lift trucks that just arrived a couple of weeks ago, and we are good to go. Therefore, on November 15, you will see us back to normal,” he pointed out.

Hi-lift trucks are an essential part of the overall airline inflight meal process in upholding food quality and safety standards with correct temperatures, preserving the freshness of hot and ambient meals while maintaining stringent practices throughout the process. ― Bernama