Raya Airways
Cargo airline of Malaysia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Raya Airways Sdn Bhd d/b/a Raya Airways, is a cargo airline with its head office at Cyberjaya, Selangor and the main hub for Raya Airways at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Selangor, Malaysia.[1]
(as Raya Airways)
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It is an express freight and freighter charter company. The airline was established in November 1993 as Transmile Air. It has courier transportation services between Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia and services international companies such as DHL, United Parcel Service, Air Macau and CEN Worldwide. Raya Airways also provides aircraft charters and wet leases specialists with experience operating cargo flights around the world. Raya Airways was designated a National Cargo Carrier by the Malaysian Transport Ministry in 1996.
Raya Airways is owned by Mohamad Najib Ishak. The previous CEO, Lee Shashitheren, was fired for corruption.[2]
Raya has expanded its fleet with the addition of the A321P2F, bringing its total fleet count to six. The A321P2F will enhance the carrier's capabilities to cater to a wider customer base, expand its network reach and improve its cargo handling capacity.
The cargo airline posted a net profit for the year ending 31 December 2020 with revenue of MYR334.12 million (US$79.9 million), and MYR3. The expected revenue for 2023 was 4-500 million MYR.[citation needed]
History
Raya Airways began its operations as Transmile Air Services with one Boeing 737 and one Cessna Grand Caravan, in providing air express transport service to Pos Malaysia Berhad for their courier business to East Malaysia in November 1993. It later developed into an international company and the only dedicated intra-Asian overnight express cargo operator in Malaysia. Their first Boeing 727 freighter service commenced in 2000 for the Kuala Lumpur/Penang-Bangkok-Hong Kong courier sector. It was an extended operation for their existing client, DHL International Limited. Over five years, owing to the increasing demand of freight services in the region, Transmile Air Services increased its Boeing 727 fleet to 10. As part of the strategy to expand its operations and network of connecting routes, Transmile Air Services acquired four MD-11s in 2005. The airline started the MD-11 operation for Kuala Lumpur-Hong Kong-Los Angeles sector in the third quarter of 2005.[3]
From 2002 to 2006, Transmile Air Services provided air cargo service to Air Macau.[4] In 2014, the Airline was rebranded as Raya Airways.[5] Their subsidiaries are K-Mile Air of Thailand and now-defunct Megantara Air of Indonesia, both of which operated aircraft transferred from their fleet.
Destinations
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Fleet
Current fleet
As of August 2025[update], Raya Airways operates the following aircraft:[7]
| Aircraft | In service |
Orders | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Airbus A321-200P2F | 1 | First freighter variant operator in Southeast Asia[8] | |
| Airbus A321-200PCF | 2 | — | |
| Boeing 767-200BDSF | 5 | — | |
| Total | 8 |
Former fleet
Raya Airways previously operated the following aircraft:[9]
As Transmile Air Services, the airline formerly operated the following aircraft:
| Aircraft | Total | Introduced | Retired | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boeing 727-200F | 12 | 1996 | 2015 | |
| Boeing 737-200F | 9 | 1994 | 2014 | |
| Boeing 757-200PCF | 1 | 2015 | 2020 | |
| Cessna 208B Grand Caravan | 6 | 1995 | 2008 | |
| McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 | 2 | 1998 | 1998 | Leased from Laker Airways |
| McDonnell Douglas MD-11F | 4 | 2005 | 2011 | |
