Australian Flight Data

Adelaide to Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia · 439 months of data from Dec 1988 · Kuala Lumpur to Adelaide

Passengers
79,352
Adelaide to Kuala Lumpur, 12 months to May 2026
Both directions
158,946
including Kuala Lumpur to Adelaide
Flight time
7h 45m
40m longer than the return
Load factor
91%
seats filled on this leg

Traffic: 12 months to May 2026

79,352 passengers flew Adelaide to Kuala Lumpur in the 12 months to May 2026, out of 158,946 on the route in both directions. Flights run about 91% full, much the same in both directions. This route has been reported for 37 years.

The route

Adelaide Kuala Lumpur

Distances are true from Adelaide; the ring marks the distance to Kuala Lumpur.

How long is the flight?

Scheduled flight time from Adelaide to Kuala Lumpur is 7h 45m gate to gate, over 5,672 km. Coming back takes 7h 5m — a difference of 40m, so this direction is the slower one.

Scheduled block time — gate to gate, not time in the air — taken from the current timetable for this leg. Long-haul flights are often timetabled differently in each direction because of winds aloft, so the return is not always the same length. Check your own booking for the flight you are taking.

Flight numbers on this route

1 flight number currently scheduled from Adelaide to Kuala Lumpur. These are the numbers you book under.

Scheduled every day this week — 7 departures in all.

Malaysia · 1 · Airbus A330, Airbus A330-900, Airbus A330-900 NEO

MH138

Current timetable as at 2026-09-06

Timetables change, and these carry no punctuality figures of their own — no on-time data is published for international flights at all. The passenger and load factor figures above cover the route, not any single flight number.

Passengers, 1988 to 2026

08,48416,967 May 2025Nov 2025May 2026
08,48416,967Omicron wave hits crew availability — Jan 2022 Bonza launches on leisure routes — Nov 2023 Bonza collapses after 15 months — Mar 2024 Rex enters administration and exits the trunk routes — Aug 2024 Cyclone Alfred closes south-east Queensland airports — Mar 2025 May 2021Feb 2024May 2026
08,48416,967Tigerair Australia stops flying — Feb 2020 COVID-19 border closures begin — Mar 2020 Rex enters the trunk routes with jets — Mar 2021 Omicron wave hits crew availability — Jan 2022 Bonza launches on leisure routes — Nov 2023 Bonza collapses after 15 months — Mar 2024 Rex enters administration and exits the trunk routes — Aug 2024 Cyclone Alfred closes south-east Queensland airports — Mar 2025 May 2016Apr 2021May 2026
013,73727,473The pilots' dispute grounds domestic aviation — Aug 1989 Domestic deregulation ends the Two Airline Policy — Oct 1990 Virgin Blue launches — Aug 2000 Ansett Australia collapses — Sep 2001 Jetstar launches — May 2004 OzJet's all-business experiment ends within months — Jan 2006 Tiger Airways Australia enters the market — Apr 2008 Volcanic ash cloud disrupts southern Australia — Jun 2011 Qantas grounds its entire fleet — Oct 2011 Skywest becomes Virgin Australia Regional Airlines — May 2013 Tigerair Australia stops flying — Feb 2020 COVID-19 border closures begin — Mar 2020 Rex enters the trunk routes with jets — Mar 2021 Omicron wave hits crew availability — Jan 2022 Bonza launches on leisure routes — Nov 2023 Bonza collapses after 15 months — Mar 2024 Rex enters administration and exits the trunk routes — Aug 2024 Cyclone Alfred closes south-east Queensland airports — Mar 2025 Dec 1988Jun 2007May 2026

To May 2026 · Marks show industry events

How full were the flights?

Inbound load factor, read as a floor rather than an exact figure. Some flights on this pair also carried passengers to and from other cities, and their seats cannot be split between those journeys. Dividing by every seat on every aircraft that touched the route gives the lowest the true figure can be, so actual occupancy is at or above the line. Seat data begins in 2009, so this series is shorter than the passenger chart above.

85%90%95% May 2025Nov 2025May 2026
10%53%97% Oct 2021Mar 2024May 2026
10%54%98% May 2016Mar 2021May 2026
10%54%98% Sep 2003May 2015May 2026

Load factor: seats data from 2009

When is this route busiest?

Average passengers by calendar month over the last ten years, relative to the annual average.

J: 1.00× the annual average J F: 0.91× the annual average F M: 0.97× the annual average M A: 1.01× the annual average A M: 0.92× the annual average M J: 0.87× the annual average J J: 1.06× the annual average J A: 0.95× the annual average A S: 1.02× the annual average S O: 1.07× the annual average O N: 1.09× the annual average N D: 1.13× the annual average D

Freight

Tonnes of air freight carried on this route — a dimension the domestic data does not have at all.

0195390 May 2025Nov 2025May 2026
0195390 May 2021Feb 2024May 2026
0218437 May 2016Apr 2021May 2026
0326652 Dec 1988Jun 2007May 2026

To May 2026

The route in numbers

Busiest month on record27,473 · Jan 2014
Data coverageDec 1988 – May 2026 (439 months)
Freight, 12 months to May 20263,239 tonnes
Destination regionMalaysia

No punctuality data is published for international services, so there are no cancellation or on-time figures on this page. That series covers domestic routes only.

Related routes

From Adelaide

To Kuala Lumpur

Airport data