Describing the five-year-old airline as “still in the growing stage”, its chief executive Chandran Rama Muthy said it is preparing a growth phase to better take on its more established and larger competitors in Malaysia.

“When you start routes, it is like a tree. It takes a while before you bear flowers or fruit. Around 50% to 60% of our routes are doing good,” The Edge quoted him as telling FlightGlobal in an interview published today.

Malindo Air has a negative balance sheet which has been affected by unfavourable currency movements and escalating oil prices.

Chandran also raised the issue of sustainability of airlines should the practice of predatory pricing continue.

“If mature players take to irrational pricing, for example on Kuala Lumpur-Penang at RM30 – or even predatory pricing as the way to show market leadership – we are throwing good money down the drain, and definitely someone is bound to get hurt or even burn out,” he said.

Chandran has held a 51% stake in Malindo since 2017, following the exit of Defence Industries (NADI) and Lion Group of Indonesia.

The remaining stake is held by Malaysia’s National Aerospace, which had formed the airline as a joint venture hybrid carrier with NADI in 2013