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Press Cutting - Advertisement For Malaysian Airline System
Supplied by courtesy of Bjorn Larssen, this advertisement was for Malaysian Airline System which is literally taking off for the first time.
Malayan Airways (MA) was formed on 12 October 1937 by, by the Liverpool-based Singaporean Steamshipping Company and Imperial Airways to establish a scheduled flight service between Penang and Singapore. However, delayed by the war its first five passengers were not able to be carried until 2nd February 1947 when an inaugural flight flew to from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur instead of Penang.
On the 1st May 1947 MA began regular domestic services using the Airspeed Consul aircraft. Douglas C-47 Dakotas followed in 1948 as the airline opened regional routes to Saigon, Djakarta, Palembang and Medan. In the 1950s a Douglas DC-4 was leased and used on the longer routes.
In 1948 BOAC bought a 10 percent holding in the company which had increased to 29 percent by the end of the 1950s when QANTAS also bought 29 percent holding with a view to using MA as a feeder carrier for its international services. In 1951 the airline's domestic routes were transferred to a new subsidiary: Federation Air Services (FAS) so that the parent airline could concentrate on regional international routes. FAS was re-integrated with MA in 1958. With the delivery of an 84-seat Bristol Britannia in 1960, the airline launched its first long-haul international flight, to Hong Kong.
In November 1963 with the formation of the Federation of Malaysia the airline was renamed Malaysian Airways Ltd (MAL), and subsequently took over Borneo Airways in 1965. Malaysian Airways was short lived though and 9 August 1965, with the separation of Singapore from the Federation of Malaysia, the airline took over majority control from BOAC and other shareholders was again renamed MSA - Malaysia-Singapore Airways.
The two countries flew joint services with aircraft registered in each nation, which by 1967 included Comet IV jets, Fokker F27, Douglas DC-3 and Twin Pioneers.
On 3 April 1971 the airline separated into MAS - Malaysian Air System and Singapore Airlines, both of which continue to fly today as national carriers although MAS was renamed simply 'Malaysia' on 15 October 1987.
To read about the history of Ipoh's transport in e-Book form, click here.