WHY IT RATES: Air travel is growing by leaps and bounds every single year, and airlines need to ensure that their committment to eco-friendly travel stays on par with growing numbers. Malaysia Airlines is helping lead the way.—Michael Schottey, TravelPulse Director of Digital Content
Malaysia Airlines, the country’s national carrier, in collaboration with OpenAirlines, announced the successful implementation of SkyBreathe® Fuel Efficiency, an advanced system to reduce fuel costs and CO2 emissions of their fleet.
The cost of fuel is the arch enemy of the airline industry and since last summer, crude oil prices have gone up. The spike in fuel prices, generally airlines‘ biggest cost, is quickly eroding carriers’ profits and jeopardizing their development.
For this reason, Malaysia Airlines has chosen to adopt the latest digital technology with SkyBreathe® to monitor the fuel efficiency of their operations and improve both economic and environmental performance.
Every day, the fuel management software will automatically collect and analyze the massive quantity of data from the 79+ aircraft operated by the airline and combine them with data from other sources including payload, weather conditions, flight path and ATC constraints.
Using this solution, Malaysia Airlines will benefit from a thorough understanding of its fuel efficiency through all phases of a flight to identify the most relevant saving opportunities. Based on this information they will be able to implement the most efficient procedures on the ground (pushback, taxi, takeoff, APU, etc.) and during flight (climb, cruise, approach, landing, etc.) without compromising safety.
“We are proud to help Malaysia Airlines in their fuel saving program. What was genuinely remarkable was the level of enthusiasm and diligence, professional teamwork that began immediately, resulting in one of the shortest implementations we have ever achieved, and a wholly successful deployment. They are taking leadership in applying advanced technology and environmentally friendly solutions to their daily operations. By using Big Data algorithms, the SkyBreathe® software will develop procedures and recommendations to address their need for greater fuel efficiency which can reduce their total fuel consumption by up to 5%. Accordingly, the fuel expense saved yearly is expected to be worth tens of millions of US dollars,” explains Andrew Jong, Regional Sales Account Director of OpenAirlines.
“We are pleased to collaborate with OpenAirlines in achieving our fuel saving initiatives. Deploying SkyBreathe® software and the pilot module MyFuelCoach™ will help empower pilots’ eco-piloting initiatives. They will now be able to see individual fuel performances displayed in a simple dashboard on their mobile to improve future decisions. We are confident that this new digital approach will develop a stronger fuel conscious culture in the company and we will continue to leverage on technology and digitization to minimize fuel volatility effects,” said Izham Ismail, Group Chief Executive Officer of Malaysia Airlines.
Malaysia Airlines joins more than 28 other airlines across the world using SkyBreathe®, including Norwegian, Cebu Pacific, flydubai, Royal Brunei Airlines and Atlas Air.



