Flag carrier Malaysia Airlines will launch an Internet booking service next month as part of a technology upgrade to boost sales and match similar services offered by no-frills rival AirAsia, a report said today.

"We will start the service by next month," senior sales and marketing general manager Ahmad Fuaad Dahlan was quoted as saying by The Star daily.

He did not give details but the newspaper said some of the airline's officials were already conducting briefings for its agency offices nationwide on the impending introduction of Internet booking.

A source told the daily that the service would begin with five domestic routes - Kuala Lumpur, Johor Baru, Penang, Kuching and Kota Kinabalu - and be expanded to other domestic and selected international destinations, such as Singapore, by April.

"A complete roll-out of the service will be a matter of time from then on," the source said.

The move was timely in view of growing passenger loads and competition from AirAsia, which has a successful Internet booking service and has begun to expand regionally, the source added.

Fuaad said passenger loads have increased in recent months, surging to 85 percent in December before easing to about 77 percent in January, which was still one of the highest for the airline in the aftermath of the Sars outbreak in the region last year. - AFP