Malaysia Airlines soars to new heights with Manchester United collab

Malaysia Airlines has unveiled a co-branded aircraft livery in partnership with football club Manchester United. The bespoke livery, now featured on the airline’s flagship A330-300, blends the national pride of Malaysia with Manchester United’s global sporting prestige.

With dynamic red lines flowing from the Malaysia flag into the club’s iconic red, the design symbolises harmony, strength, and unity between aviation and sports— two forces that inspire and connect people worldwide.

The unveiling on Friday (18 April) was attended by Manchester United legends Dimitar Berbatov, Nemanja Vidić, and Luís Nani at the MATTA Fair. Fans also had the opportunity to interact with the football greats in public meet and greet sessions last weekend at the MAG Arena in MITEC, Kuala Lumpur. 

This is a part of the airline's strategic global multi-year partnership with the club, which was announced back in March 2024. Through this partnership, Malaysia Airlines said it is poised to extend its renowned Malaysian Hospitality to Manchester United’s vast community of over 1.1 billion fans and followers worldwide by leveraging co-branded marketing initiatives to boost brand recognition to a diverse global audience, while delivering quality service and immersive experiences associated with both brands.

Don't miss: HKTB and Malaysia Airlines invite Malaysians to rediscover the beauty of HK 

Malaysia Airlines also confirmed with A+M, that it will be the official partner for the upcoming Post Season Tour in Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong. In tandem, Manchester United Maybank debit and credit cardmembers can enjoy an additional 15% discount with a promo code, that is available for use until 30 September 2025, for bookings made by 31 August this year. 

Additionally, ahead of the friendlies matches in Kuala Lumpur on 28 May, and Hong Kong on 30 May, Malaysia Airlines confirmed it will be flying the team out from Manchester for both the matches. MAG said the promotional offer is available for a wider region of Asia-Pacific fans to fly into Malaysia for the friendlies, and it could double local tourism in the country.

Meanwhile, Captain Izham Ismail, group managing director, MAG, said that as the official commercial airline partner of Manchester United, this opportunity opens new avenues to reach Manchester United fans in the regions and markets which it serves.

"Here at MAG, we have a desire to transform the group back to its former glory. There will be challenges, as the journey we went through the past 5 years has been painful. But today, we see the sweetness of our hard work," he added.

"Qualitatively, for Malaysia Airlines and United, both of our passions and purposes are very aligned. On the quantitative side, our brand eroded pre-2015, it disappeared and collapsed. We needed a brand that was strong enough with a huge fanbase to help carry us together so the recognition of MAG and Malaysia Airlines can be re-elevated," said Izham.

When asked if the national carrier is looking into anymore sports partnerships in a press conference, Izham shared that several brands have knocked on Malaysia Airlines' door last year, such as Red Bull, Arsenal and more. 

"Unfortunately, we are still in the midst of transforming, and we have to be very careful where we invest, and the investment we put in must be meaningful to drive a return of investment," he said. The group managing director also joked that the Formula 1 is the most expensive sport to sponsor, akin to a one-year salary to his staff. 

Separately, Captain Izham also shared that the inspiration for the livery design first began as a sketch on a hotel napkin.

"The special design blends the Malaysian flag with Manchester United's logo seamlessly with the transition of a red line from the Jalur Gemilang into the club's logo. It applies the colours of both Malaysia and one of the world's most recognised football clubs. This reflects the strength of the partnership and our shared commitment towards excellence," he explained.

Commenting on the club's partnership with Malaysia Airlines, Manchester United forward Dimitar Berbatov said "It is good to be back in Malaysia. You can feel the love and passion from the fanbase around here."

Further Malaysia Airlines updates at the MATTA Fair

Besides unveiling the co-branded aircraft livery, the carrier also announced the return of flights to Brisbane, and the reinstatement of direct flights to Queensland from 29 November 2025. 

It said the strategic move reaffirms the airline’s commitment to the Australian market, complementing increased frequencies to Sydney and Melbourne to better serve both leisure and business travelers. The airline will also be introducing the all-new A330neo fleet on selected ANZ routes, offering enhanced passenger
comfort, fuel efficiency, and cutting-edge cabin features.

The airline has also increased flight frequencies across its Asia Pacific network, with added services to popular cities such as Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, Surabaya, Phuket, and Trivandrum.

Malaysia Airlines also previewed its new lie-flat Business Class seats for the Boeing 737-10 — a first for its narrowbody fleet. This is amid the carrier's plans to operate 55 Boeing 737-8 and 737-10 aircraft by 2030.

It also announced enhanced attributes across its Economy Class fare tiers, by switching up its lowest Economy Lite tier to Economy Value, which includes 7kg cabin baggage, 20kg checked baggage, and more.

Partnership with Google

Malaysia Airlines has also teamed up with Google again for this year's MATTA Fair, building on the success of last year’s event, where attendees experienced the groundbreaking AI technology of Google Gemini at the MAG Arena at MATTA.

Bringing back the Trip Itinerary Builder and AI-powered Image Generator to this year's MAG Arena, attendees were able to use these tools to create personalized travel itineraries and visualize their dream destinations through immersive images powered by Google Gemini’s capabilities in natural language processing.

⁠This is in line with Malaysia Airlines signature Time For campaign, a series of consumer-centered activations featuring destinations from the airlines’ network and the essence of Malaysian Hospitality— our crew. It also introduced a new feature, the “Image-to-Video” setup, known as Veo2, which allowed attendees to submit their old static travel photos, transforming them into engaging videos that bring cherished memories to life.

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