Malaysia Air Orders 25 Boeing 737 MAX 8s

Malaysia Airlines has ordered 25 Boeing 737 MAX 8s, and purchase rights for another 25, in a deal worth up to USD$5.5 billion at list prices.

The new aircraft will reduce operating costs and their longer range will allow the airline to fly to more destinations, chief executive Peter Bellew said in a statement.

This is the first major decision by the ailing carrier since Bellew took over from former chief executive Christoph Mueller on July 1.

The new planes will replace some of the airline's 56 Boeing 737-800s.

Malaysia Airlines has been struggling since the disappearance of flight MH370 and the shooting down of flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine, both in 2014.

The national carrier was taken private by state-fund Khazanah following the twin disasters as part of a restructuring plan, which included a shrinking of its network. Since then, the airline has cancelled all non-stop flights to Europe except those to London and ended several low-yield Asia-Pacific services.

Bellew told reporters the airline was aiming to tap capital markets by March 2019, adding that he was confident it would break even in 2018.

He said with the new planes, costs would go down by 40 percent and operating expenses would drop by 15 percent.

MAS has disposed of its long-haul Boeing 777s and signed an agreement to lease four Airbus A350s, which have lower operating costs.