After being grounded for a couple of days, Malaysia Airlines has reinstated its new Airbus A330neo for its Kuala Lumpur to Melbourne route. The newly delivered widebody aircraft was grounded temporarily after it faced a series of technical issues after two return flights to Australia.
Since 25th December 2025, the new aircraft has resumed its scheduled MH149 flight from Kuala Lumpur to Melbourne. The first and only A330neo in the flag carrier’s fleet is currently scheduled to fly 6x weekly between the two cities.
After the A330neo was initially grounded after its return flight from Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur on 21st December, Airbus has pledged full support to resolve the issues directly alongside Rolls-Royce. The new aircraft uses Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 engines which boasts a high-bypass turbofan that offers improved fuel efficiency and lower emissions compared to previous generation A330 aircraft.
Based on the flight history recorded on FlightAware, the new aircraft with the registration 9M-MNG was deployed temporarily for Kuala Lumpur to Kuching flights on 24th and 25th December, before resuming its international service to Australia.
The Airbus A330neo arrived in Malaysia on 29th November 2024 and it commenced its first commercial flight on 19th December 2024. The new widebody aircraft has a total of 297 seats which features all new Business class and Economy class cabins. There are 28 Collins Aerospace Elevation Business Class seats laid out in a 1-2-1 configuration with sliding doors, 17.3″ 4K IFE display and a wireless charging pad.
Meanwhile, the economy class gets 269 Recaro CL3810 seats which include 24 seats with extra legroom. The new economy seats which are laid out in a 2-4-2 configuration boasts ergonomic design, ample storage compartments and a 13.3″ 4K IFE screen.
Malaysia Airlines also offers complimentary unlimited WiFi onboard the new aircraft. On top of that, the new IFE systems allow passengers to pair their own Bluetooth headset.
You can learn more about the new A330neo in our previous post.
