Malaysia Airlines

Malaysian hospitality

Malaysia Airlines celebrated their 40th anniversary in October 2012. They are an established premium airline and the proud flag carrier for Malaysia. Flying with them is a special experience thanks to their friendly staff and personal touches such as their signature chicken satay dish. They explain that their MH flight code actually means "Malaysian Hospitality". They have received over 100 awards in the last 10 years for this hospitality.

Malaysia Airlines Growing up together to finance the A380

Growing up together

We recently celebrated our 15th anniversary of working together. Malaysia Airlines is an important part of both the history of RRPF and the spare engine leasing industry. They were the first airline to complete a sale and leaseback financing transaction of a Trent engine, which prompted the significant growth of spare engine leasing industry and our business. Today, they are our longest standing customer in the region.

Financing the biggest jets

When they renewed their fleet in 2012-2013, the biggest challenge was the financing of the A380 superjumbo and the related Trent 900 spare engines. Their financing strategy was "50% on balance sheet and 50% off balance sheet" according to Shahnaz Abdul Samad, Head of Funding. This enabled them to balance between asset value and residual value risk.

We proposed different financing options for their Trent 900 spare engines and MAS selected an operating lease sale and lease-back structure for all of them.

Aviation is not an easy business and to succeed requires flexibility. Amin Zakaria, the Head of Engineering, Maintenance and Operations explained why they decided to partner with us on the Trent 900 spare engines; "one of the reasons we are glad we went with RRPF [is that] we have this flexibility, the flexibility in the redelivery condition, and flexibility in actually maintaining the engines…" Our technical understanding and expertise means that we are in the best position to provide them with the flexibility that they need.

Building on the relationship

We value long-term customer relationships.