Malaysia Airlines dismisses report of plans to scrap A380 unit

Malaysia Airlines has dismissed a report that it has scrapped plans to reconfigure its 6 Airbus A380s to an all-economy layout and hive them off as a separate unit to focus on Islamic pilgrimage flights. "[The establishment of the A380 subsidiary] is still very much on track providing charters to Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah and Medina airports to cater for Hajj and Umrah pilgrimages to Mecca. However, we will be deploying the A380s opportunistically during peak periods to high traffic markets," the airline said. All 6 aircraft are scheduled to be parked by the end of Q2 2018. Thereafter cabin reconfiguration will be carried out by Airbus "in a progressive manner", adds Malaysia Airlines. Malaysia Airlines had previously said that it will cease operating the A380s by "Q3 of 2018" and put them in a separate unit. <br/>