KUALA LUMPUR, July 24 — Malaysia Airlines Berhad officially introduced its MHHolidays service today and is targeting for the integrated travel marketplace to increase its ancillary revenue by up to 10 per cent this year.

Malaysia Airlines Berhad chief operations officer Ahmad Luqman Mohd Azmi said he is hopeful the platform, operated in collaboration with TUI Group, an Anglo-German travel and tourism company, will improve on the airline’s 2018 ancillary income target of 5 per cent.

MHHolidays joins the airline’s MHassistant app launched in May and aims to provide travellers with a seamless holiday planning experience, starting from flight bookings to local accommodations and more.

“With the launch of the MHholidays travel marketplace, we hope that it will be able to contribute 10 per cent to this year’s ancillary revenue,” Ahmad Luqman told reporters after the launch event here at Hotel Maya.

MHholidays, which assists travellers in customising their holiday experiences via flight and hotel reservations, has already been used for over 2,000 bookings since its soft launch in June, Ahmad Luqman said today.

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Malaysia Airline is aiming to bring the number up to 5,000 bookings monthly by the end of 2019, but its ultimate ambition for MHHolidays is significantly higher.

“We hope in the future, we can get at least 1,000 bookings per day,” he added.

On the service’s target audience, Ahmad Luqman said MHholidays will focus on domestic travellers first before expanding globally.

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He also said MHHolidays will add additional services to expand its offerings beyond flights and accommodations.

The service is entirely digital and is available on a microsite.

TUI Group executive board member Frank Rosenberger, who was present during the launch, called the collaboration timely as it would expand his firm’s presence in the region.

“South-east Asia is a key expansion target for the TUI Group.

“We are glad to partner with Malaysia Airlines. Not only will Malaysian travellers will be able to benefit from our wide network of holiday destinations, Malaysia Airlines will be able to reach new customer segments and generate additional revenue,” said Rosenberger.

Tourism, Arts and Culture Deputy Minister Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik also attended today’s event.

Celebrating its launch, MHholidays is running a social media contest on Instagram from today until August 6, 2019 and offering holiday packages to Bangkok, Kota Kinabalu or Penang or hotel stay at the Hotel Maya Kuala Lumpur.

Participants can submit photos of their recent holidays or flights with Malaysia Airlines on Instagram, complete the caption “I deserve a dream holiday experience with Malaysia Airlines because.. “ and then tag @malaysiaairlines along with the #MalaysiaAirlines #MHholidays and #HolidayswithMalaysiAirlines hashtags.