Malaysia Airlines mulling purchase of 25 widebody jets next year

Malaysia Airlines is considering ordering as many as 25 widebody aircraft as the nation’s flag carrier, recovering from two fatal air crashes in 2014, looks to meet growing travel demand. The airline will replace 15 of its aging planes and add 10 to fuel growth, CEO Peter Bellew said Tuesday. It may look at Airbus Group SE’s A330s and A350s, and Boeing Co.’s 787s, with a decision due by the middle to end of next year, he said. “I am short of widebody aircraft,” said Bellew. Besides the current Kuala Lumpur-London flights, “we won’t do other long-haul routes until 2020, 2021 because the aircraft will be available at the right price, at the right time and at the right configuration.” Bellew, who became Malaysia Air’s third CEO in two years in July, is tasked with the job of restoring confidence in the carrier that lost two planes two years ago -- one that vanished over the Indian Ocean and another that was shot down over Ukraine. The airline is likely to become profitable in 2018 before it relists its shares in the first quarter of the following year, Bellew said.<br/>