Malaysia Airlines (MAS) will take delivery of the first of six Airbus A380 superjumbo jets on June 19, nine years after placing the order, and will start thrice weekly operations from Kuala Lumpur to London on July 1.

The aircraft is currently undergoing the finishing touches in Hamburg, Germany, said MAS acting head of strategic communications, Nor Zalida Ahmad.

"Starting from July 1, MAS will operate three flights a week on the Kuala Lumpur-London route, and then increase the frequency to daily from Aug. 25 with the delivery of its second A380. The third and fourth A380s (which MAS will take possession in August and September, respectively) will be used to fly between Kuala Lumpur and Sydney," MAS head of customer experience, Datuk Salleh Ahmad Tabrani, told a media briefing here yesterday.

"As for our fifth and sixth A380s (which are due for delivery in October this year and February 2013), we have not decided which routes they will be deployed to. Our strategy team is currently crunching the numbers and doing market studies and will decide their flight destinations in a few months," he said.

The A380s will be able to carry 494 passengers in a three-class configuration, comprising eight first class seats and 350 economy class seats on the main deck, together with 66 business class seats and 70 economy class seats on the upper deck.

MAS senior vice-president (marketing and promotions) Al-Ishsal Ishak said the new A380s will spot a new logo colour scheme and livery to signify its transformation into a premium airline. However, the colour scheme and livery of its existing aircraft will remain unchanged for now.

"For an airline like MAS, we have multiple types of aircraft in our fleet on different routes. For each route, we cater to different types of market segments. We have to match our aircraft and products to the market segments that we target for that specific route. Thus, the way we design our products and services will have to be different," said Salleh.

"As of today, (for example,) we still serve meal boxes (pre-packed meals) on some of our domestic and regional routes for practical reasons," he added.

As to the fares on MAS' A380s to London, Al-Ishsal said they will carry a "slight premium of about 5-10%" to those on its B747 aircraft. "However, they (fares) are still a far cry from our competitors."