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The wildest routes I’ve seen, ever!
- Maanav Parikh
- Sep 14
- 3 min read
Aviation is a fascinating subject. Although it appears mundane at first, it’s only when one takes the plunge into the fascinating and perplexing world of aviation. With rapidly developing technology in airliners and globalization being the name of the game, planes have been connecting us to city pairs unimaginable a few years ago, some obvious and some mind-boggling. An airline meticulously plans where to fly and with what aircraft nowadays, but this was not the case in the good old 1990s, especially if you were a state-funded career in Asia. You see, Asia was experiencing an economic boom, and airlines were adding routes to distant destinations by the minute. One of these carriers was Malaysian Airlines. Malaysian Airlines now may be infamous for its 2 incidents, but back in the 1990s, it was something else. With a strong and growing economy and in a bid to give its famous neighbor airline a run for its money, Malaysia Airlines was slowly emerging as one of the top Asian carriers at the time. With its newly acquired fleet of Boeing 747–400s, it was all ready to be one of the best in the world, and with the wackiest of routes no Asian career would even think about.
The Latin chronicles
Malaysian Airlines once had a decent presence in Latin America of all places, which is rather surprising for a carrier that does not even fly to the USA, let alone have only one destination in Europe (They’ll be resuming flights to Paris, however). Malaysian Airlines was once the only asian carrier to fly to Mexico and Argentina, with its flights to Buenos Aires via Cape Town and Johannesburg, and Mexico City via Los Angeles. Their Mexico flights, although initially seeing success, were met with furore from the US DOT, and with regulations in place, they greatly suffered and were cut. The Buenos Aires flight made them the only asian carrier to fly to Argentina and even South Africa, and mysteriously, this flight seemed to have survived till the early 2010s. Some say political powers may have influenced this wacky route to come into place, but nothing is known.
Malaysian Globetrotting
And mind you, Malaysian Airlines globetrotting oddities weren't stopping till Latin America. In the mid-90s, Malaysian Airlines flew to Vancouver via Taipei, a route that, although it may appear lucrative but has been troublesome for Southeast carriers like themselves to make it work due to the distance and the yields being less than satisfactory. Case in point being Singapore Airlines ' attempt at flying to Vancouver, which went in vain. In Europe, the airline flew to exotic destinations like Brussels, Vienna, and Madrid to strengthen its image as a global carrier. However, all of this would go in Vain come 1997 as it brought in the Asian Financial crisis, which prompted the airline to cut a lot of its exotic routes. However, once its 777s arrived in 1997, the airline would continue to experiment but on a far smaller scale. The airline operated one of the first flights between the Middle East and the United States with its fifth freedom flights from Dubai to Newark in the late 1990s. It also flows routes to Beirut to Zagreb to funnel passengers onwards to Australia, however, only for a short time.
What Happened?
Eventually, Economic downturn, restructuring attempts,s, and a massive dent on brand image due to its 2 accidents in 2014 prompted Malaysian Airlines to slowly trim its wings and emerge as a leaner and more streamlined airline operating to only a few long-haul destinations. However, one shall never forget the crazy era when Malaysians challenged the best of the best airlines in the world.
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