Aussie consumers shy away from MAS once again

Australian consumers had been returning to Malaysia Airlines in the wake of the disappearance of flight MH370 when the MH17 tragedy struck, hitting sales even harder.

A new study by consumer finance platform Pocketbook showed that there had been two months of strong recovery for the airline in the local market after the first disaster in March.

“Malaysia Airlines also had a terrific June just prior to the incident from Australian consumers as monthly spending on the airline recovered back to January 2014 levels,” Pocketbook founder Bosco Tan said.

“However the July monthly result wiped away two months of growth since MH370.”

The shooting down of MH17 over the Ukraine last month saw purchases plummet 47% – a greater dive than post-MH370 when they had tumbled 31%.

And the impact has not only been felt by MAS, with Malaysian low cost carrier AirAsia also seeing a similar decline, according to the report. Spending on AirAsia flights fell 42% post MH17 as compared with 20% in March after MH370.

However, overall spending on airlines rose 5% last month, the report revealed.

“The balance seems to be made up by non-Malaysian Asian airlines which saw a 14% increase,” Tan said.