Craig

I think the structure is already there. If you look at C gates, there are actually tracks that go straight instead of turning right towards main concourse as you leave the C gates. Trains were stopped a few years ago to facilitate this extension but the D? gates have yet to be constructed yet. To be fair, KLIA was built ~20 years before Jewel was built. The current terminal design (either T1 or T2) doesn't have the structure for this feature. I bet they can't even separate arrivals and departures with the current T1 design. I think even relocating the escalators at C gates will be tough (it's a bit of a hassle to say go to the Golden Lounge when there are no visible escalators once you get off the train)

Targeted operation of first new train is Q4 2024 IIRC, subject to delays of course. And I don't think those blue signs around the airport has been changed since its opening in 1998. I think they only changed a bit when the international A/B gates changed to G/H (very German way of assigning gate numbers btw) and also added Arabic, Chinese, and Japanese stickers at the bottom.

But not the Jalur Gemilang towards the back yeah? It's nice on a few frames but not so much if it's on all the 45 new planes coming in. I like the batik motif on the wau tho.

I expect nothing less from Straits Times with that headline.

Probably because they don't want pax to get more confused and crowded (as they are now) if they mix passengers at C11. The original signage (in blue) was always directing pax to aero train - so i guess if they move it to say C21, everyone will be confused. But signage could be a little clearer and if someone walks the wrong way down to C2/4/6 gates, it's a long trek to C5.

Mavcom finally released their April and May air traffic bulletin. Interesting bits: AK/D7: KUL-BKI-TWU-HKG-KUL and KUL-BKI-HKG-KUL (circle flights) 6x each for cargo?; KUL-JAI 3x; KUL-ALA 4x OD: KUL-TAS 7x FY: PEN-BKK 7x; BKI-TPE 7x; BKI-NRT 4x Z9: KUL-DAD/SGN 7x; KUL-CGK/KBV/DPS 14x

Well if you happen to get to the express platform and the train closes the door on you and the next train is in 30 minutes, there's not really a way for you to get over to the transit platform with another train leaving in 3 minutes. So the previous setup was better when everything was departing from the transit platform. Express trains running at 30 minutes intervals between 06:30 and 10:00 is a nightmare especially when there are so many flights leaving KUL between 08:00 and 10:00. Their "peak hour" sounds like delayed office hours instead of peak flight arrival/departure hours.

The queue at C bus gates to baggage claim weren't great either. Especially when a few flights are arriving at the same time. There doesn't seem to be any construction work done on the tracks - so I guess we are just waiting for the rolling stock and not a revamped train system? I remember seeing a space boarded up for "the Loaf" in the C gates 1st floor as well. And it's still not as busy as 2019 as you said. The hoardings does take away quite a bit of natural light into the building.

Grab has increased their prices. Something like RM75 plus tolls. KLIA express is convenient if you are a tourist or if you live somewhat close to a public transit station. It's much faster than Grab and who knows how long you'd be stuck on Mex/Elite during rush hours. I have missed the train a few times back when they were running it at 30 minute frequency. The Express service need to run every 15 minutes like last time. 30 minutes frequency is not feasible especially if you want to catch the 9AM bank out of KUL as the 20 minute frequency only runs between 10-20h. E.g. I need to take the 07:00 train to reach there by 07:30 for a 09:00 flight. If I missed that train, then it's taxi for me as I'll be there when bag drop/check-in closes. Getting a grab from my home to KL Sentral at 06:30 can be a challenge and getting a grab back from KL Sentral back to my place between 17-1930h is also another huge challenge. Extend it to Gombak/KLCC/PJ would require major work and land acquisition. Would be nice to have something similar to the RER/S-Bahn but Malaysia government only knows how to build roads when studies have shown that the more roads you build, the more congested roads will become. Alternative is to have a rail line instead of PJD (link) highway connecting Subang Airport/Damansara Jaya area all the way down to TBS Yes please - although I don't know how they actually extend the line south when there's a runway just at the edge of the train line at KUL T2. It'd have to take quite a big detour to Seremban. An alternative would be to Port Dickson and then onwards to Malacca city center but I don't think the demand justify this.

Passed by KUL C gates earlier this week. They boarded up a lot of areas and I recall seeing 2 wings with new lounges sign (C20s gate and C10s IIRC). The Travel Club/Lounge is the only other lounge besides MH at the C gates now. I think this will be a generic lounge (e.g. PPL but they have moved to the G/H gates) instead of individual airline lounges. Or it could be a Star Alliance and Skyteam lounge and non-alliance can use Travel Club? Who knows. Hard Rock Cafe (heh?!), Jibby Chow is also opening at C gates along with Burger King (I can't remember if it was them that was on the same wing as the MH lounge). All on the first floor. Some duty free shops are closed and are currently going under renovation. It looks like the re-designed stores will have a lot more wood based theme.

I am curious - who is MH marketing agency now? The recent news of complimentary wifi in business/business suite and for MH platinums aren't publicized at all (unless you go to to their media release section on their website - but who really goes there?). All they have on their social is sales to Australia or something similar. Shouldn't they announce this on their socials and not let their passengers find out about it via other news site or blogs? Do like a tease - "we have something to announce tomorrow" or whatever. Nope. Nothing. Gate to gate wifi is also something worthy of an announcement (the switching off of PED well, most people don't switch it off anyway). Even new destinations or flights. And most people will now have an idea of what MH's new business class will be like but again, nothing from MH. I understand they haven't officially launched it yet, but leaking it to a blogger and it's out everywhere except on MH seems a bit of a misstep.

I think it’s probably MAHB that terminated them (IIRC), not airlines that threw in the towel. I thought I read somewhere that MAHB wanted to consolidate the lounges. I can understand if 1 or 2 or 3 airlines choose to close their own lounges, but for all of them to close sounds a bit more sus. TG, CX, EK, SQ have all closed their own respective lounges. EK almost always have their own lounge in a decently large outport city. SQ has a huge presence at KUL too.

Just passed by the Plaza Premium Lounge. It’s…..crowded. They closed the one in satellite permanently so I am not sure how they’ll be able to handle everything at the new main concourse lounge. In addition to pretty much half of credit card users worldwide, it also serves SQ, QR, TG, CZ, BR, CI, TK amongst others that uses this lounge. TK, QR, CZ, BR, CI premium pax apparently get to use Plaza Premium First tho. I heard there’s a new lounge opened in the satellite concourse - The Travel Club. Not sure which airline that caters to. I am curious if there are plans for other consolidated lounge(s) at satélite since it’s quite a trek from main to satellite with the bus (and even when the trains were running).

From Aeroroutes: Istanbul – Kuala Lumpur TK60/61 30OCT23 – 13NOV23 2 of 7 weekly B789 replaces B77W TK62/63 eff 29OCT23 A359 replaces B789 KUL will be TK's sole 7 weekly B77W destination in Southeast Asia for TK's NW23 schedule. SIN will get it 1-2 weekly B77W services. CGK will be downgraded to A359.

I forgot if I read it here or somewhere else. The whole track (rail) needs to be swapped out as well because the rail we used are no longer in production?

Because a 10k flight last 24 hours on Insta where as a 30k bag lasts a lifetime on Insta

I don't know if GDP per capita is a reliable factor to determine the number of full service carriers in a country. Vietnam has less than half of Malaysia's GDP per capita but yet VN has 2 full service carriers. Taiwan isn't exactly known as a high yielding destination. In fact it's the opposite - Taiwan has been well-known as a low-yield destination for most airlines.

Same plane service. Doubt there are that many KUL-DPS-SYD flyers on board - I think most of them are DPS-SYD and DPS-KUL.

Agreed. I flew it MYY-KUL and I thought it was almost at the tipping point of torture flight. TWU/SDK would be a big no no, and god forbid, PER/DEL/BOM/PVG. Ah the good old days when we thought 180 on the 320 was bad! At least we haven't sunk down to gone Euro J/Y yet.

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king 😬 Pretty much all of Malaysia's carriers are low-cost. Why can't we be Taiwan with 3 full service carriers instead 😬 Btw, MH should take a look at MyAirline's social and marketing team. They are doing a fantastic job. They really know how to market new routes and their products.

I feel like this would have been a bigger issue (possible runway incursion and not following ATC's orders?) but I guess the YouTuber is just doing it for clicks. I watched it without sound but it appears that the video was solely focusing on MH aircraft - who knew if the BA plane took off or if BA needed to exit the runway and check some stuff again.

Rather than posting one in each airline, I think it's better to have a consolidated MAVCOM ATR bulletin for all Malaysia based carriers. March 2022 bulletin was an interesting one with lots of (limited) rights unused/unwanted posted. Instead of hitting the AU weekly capacity cap, it appears that a lot of airlines have returned AU rights back to MAVCOM: D7 (1,508 seats); OD (998 seats); MH (776 seats) making a total of 3,282 weekly seats returned. And who knew D7 held the rights for 3x weekly KUL-SHJ-ZRH?! On the expansion side, it seems like OD wants to make TFU (Chengdu) as their focus city in China where the carrier applied for KUL/BKI/LGK-TFU rights along with oddly enough a daily PEN-HAK flight! KUL-SAW is back again (or did they apply for KUL-IST?) for OD as well. And finally MyAirline also applied for 7 weekly each DMK and HKT in addition to SIN for their international expansion.

Didn't know Air Asia has elite tiers

I say it's a crew situation. Some old timers will remember everything from the golden years and some younger ones may need a bit of fine tuning. I've been personally greeted as a OWE on some regional flights irrespective of class like you (and sometimes you get stares from your seat neighbor why is the IFS greeting you personally by name) and a thank you/goodbye at the door by name too. Sometimes they ask if you want anything extra with your meal (e.g. they might be able to sneak a bottle of sparkling water for you and they gave me enough peanut bags to feed a village during the pandemic). I've always been greeted personally by name for medium/long haul.