Craig

Seems like MH operated 2 additional NRT services this week timed for great onward connection to US/Canada. And rather odd they used a 2 digit number instead of MH 7xxx series. Flight operated 1JUN and will operate again 3JUN. MH48 KUL0600 - 1410NRT 333 MH49 NRT1545 - 2150KUL 333

More like a question than an answer. Indian carriers can't seem to make Malaysia work. Perhaps we will see Indigo expand more here given that they signed codeshare/partnership to be implemented sometime in the future for beyond connections. 6E has since moved to T1 at KUL for easier connections.

According to Singapore's MOT preliminary report, it appears that SQ 321 was likely flying over an area of developing convective activity (not too sure if that still counts as clear air turbulence). Media however are reporting that it's "rapid change in gravitational forces" which I guess it more click baity.

I don't think the actual reason was ever disclosed. It was just rumors here and there, but it was QF who sponsored MH into Oneworld (fact). And the rest are just hearsay. QF was planning to set up a more premium/full service carrier based in KUL called RedQ (IIRC) during MH-QF OW annoucement. There was some bad blood between MH and QF when MH was in the process of becoming a Oneworld member and it remained till today. There were some rumors that MH (or Malaysian government) wants QF to move their SIN hub to KUL (IIRC, including moving one of the LHR flights via KUL). QF obviously objected to that simply because the demand from SIN is much higher and garners higher yield than MY market. There were a lot more transfer opportunities from SIN (QF also transfer non-OW pax from AF, KL etc from SIN.).

QF left at the height of the AFC in the late 90s. Till this day, they have a lot of rights to Malaysia and beyond that aren't used. Doesn't mean Malaysia is not allowing competition. BA left and returned, left again and will return. There's some cooperation between BA and MH for beyond connections at both ends, so it makes sense for BA to return. BKK will be resumed from LGW, generally a much lower yielding airport. There's a tiff between QF and MH. IF they can get back in bed together we will see QF back at KUL. MY-AU is not a small market (excluding beyond connections).

They might be secretly happy it's the Star Alliance theme. At least the media isn't showing their Golden Goose everywhere.

Can you show some examples of this? Because AFAIK, BA had a daily LHR-KUL-PER at one point and LHR-KUL-SYD 3-4x weekly at one point. BA had free reign at KUL along with QF. JL/QF even had the exclusive rights to sell KUL-SIN-KUL last time. Lots of other European carriers were given fifth freedom, either to BKK or CGK. Lol. SG not protecting SQ. They may not have protectionist policies by law, but they have other means to protect SQ. Ever wonder why 3K is in T4 at SIN or there is no Air Asia Singapore? I don't know if CX moved to T4 by choice. KUL previously had something similar too. SQ wasn't able to renovate their KF lounge at KUL because MAHB will not give them the permit to do so. SG just knows how to market themselves well. Just need to scratch a bit and all will be revealed Everything except cars/roads. He was the one who made Malaysia a car-centric country. Even in his second term by canceling a lot of public transit services.

That makes sense. It's not open for sale on the GDS. But what about the 737 that will be in KUL? Are they doing 3x flights a week each way between PEN/BKI and KUL?

More importantly, where else do they plan to fly from KUL? Can't see them just basing a 737 here. And maybe at SZB? So they'll have 4 bases (PEN, SZB, KUL, BKI) with <10 planes? lol. Is FY really going to overnight their crew there for 2-3 nights lol. Doesn't sound very FY to me. I am sure all hell will break loose if they do it as a turnaround. Deadheading will eat up quite a bit of real estate.

What about under performing ministers / Tourism Malaysia staff? I wasn't aware that Shell was flying people who work at petrol stations between Amsterdam and KL. AFAIK, Shell only wants to sell their retail business. You may not see ExxonMobil on the roads anymore but they are still actively hiring in Malaysia.

Seems like 19th May MH318 to PKX returned to base close to Hanoi. Flight path showed that they circle Hanoi just before the Chinese border and the head out to South China Sea trying to go around Hainan Island before returning back to KUL. Was there a problem with CN airspace or did the aircraft had a problem (seems a bit unlikely given the path but I am not sure).

That means they have done away with the registration for first time e-gate visitors. Anyone holding a passport those 46 countries/territories can just use e-gates without pre-registration.

Malaysia government is known for updating their websites We even listed Yugoslavia as a country on MFA's website not too long ago and we copied and pasted Singapore's equivalent of visitor arrival card. So previously you had to go to an immigration officer so that they can inspect you on arrival in person. But this time (I assume this is your first visit to Malaysia this year?), you waltzed through the e-gates without having to register with an officer at the desk to the right of the e-gates?

Previously yes but from what I read, they have abolished the fingerprint or at least registration as a first time user recently. First time users can just waltz through the e-gates now and I was curious if that was the case with you.

You have to look for the yellow color A4 sized paper maybe at about waist level as you approach the immigration counters. And you have to look for the word "Australia" printed maybe in font size 18 along with the 9 other countries lol. They actually have a 32" TV on top of the health check area asking passport holders of those 10 countries to use the e-gates. But most are unaware of it. Did you have to register for it manually at the counter (if it's your first time) or did you just fill in your MDAC and head straight to the e-gates? From what I gather, they have done away with the registration for first time users and passengers can just use the e-gates once they have filled in their MDAC forms. But Malaysia being Malaysia, they haven't learned to be concise yet. If you've ever driven on a highway in Malaysia, try looking at those electronic advisory boards. They expect you to read a novel when you are driving through at 100 km/h.

Maybe we'll build one in Johor and have HSR to both SG and KL 🤣. KLIA land bank is huge. Just that a lot of it is palm oil plantation. I am curious if there's a mirror image of current T1, wouldn't the rail service be affected as well? The current line is at grade and they can't really do much around there (unless they plan to reconstruct the line and demolish Aeropolis which is highly unlikely). If they were to build a T3, it'd need to be west of current T2 or east of T1. Assuming T3 is for full service carriers, it'd be a pain for transfer then.

The could probably redo some of the plan. The development rights for the Aeropolis by MAHB to KLIA Aeropolis (a subsidiary of MAHB, somewhat common to set up a subsidiary for tax and liability reasons) will last until 2121. So the mirror image will not be possible. I am curious what happens when 50MPPA is reached when both satellites are full. Maybe Terminal 3 will be to the west of current T2.

BKK e-gates was already functional for certain foreigners. Malaysians and Singaporeans are eligible for BKK exit e-gates. The need staggered e-gates at KUL soon. The area is still quite small for immigration.

He and Johor MB can rebuke all they want. It's not going to change things. Hopefully they'll print 2 more A4 sized sheets with these 36 new countries included 🤣 I am curious if they'll put a EU flag or those 27 individual states individually. And if they put a EU flag, will Germany's flag be removed from the initial A4 paper. That seems like they need to print 3 pages instead of 2. Macau seems to be the stepchild in Malaysia's OneChina policy 🤣 On a more serious note, I hope they will build more e-gates. The current ones are OK but at peak time, the queues can be quite long. I don't think it'll be sufficient when these 36 countries become eligible for e-gates.

Each satellite can accommodate 20 MPPA. But the problem doesn't just end there. The bottle neck will be outbound and inbound immigration (as if both aren't bad enough on some days). That area is permanent. They could do what BKK did and doubling the counters by making one front and one to the back. I think there were plans for this at KUL now. However, immigration will still be a bottle neck at BKK because they just opened a new satellite concourse, the S gates. Whilst this will alleviate gate availability and floor space, it wouldn't alleviate the immigration bottleneck. Because everyone from satellite will be using the same immigration counters. They needed a new terminal but they got a new concourse instead. Much akin to KUL T1 and T2 sharing one huge immigration hall. It's quite nice for a MH737 to park at an even numbered C gates in the morning lol. I thought I read somewhere that they upgraded their ATC about 2-3 years back and it's one of the better ones in the world? There are more airways available than before. It's not common to see a plane circling in the air compared to before unless there's weather. Malaysia rain is not just a rainstorm but more often than not, it's a thunderstorm. No one is allowed outside a building during a thunderstorm (I hope this applies in Malaysia). Passengers can't disembark or board a plane parked remotely during a thunderstorm, neither can ramp agents be outside during a thunderstorm. But yet Tony wanted all remote gates for his terminal lol. Lack of planning or lack of funding? Maybe that's why they are selling their stake to raise funds

Problem is MH doesn't fly to HND anymore. They said they are planning to return to HND but who knows. A daytime slot would work well but that 22:00 arrival is not the best. Any delays and passengers will risk paying an expensive cab fare to the city. And without daytime slot to HND, most pax will have to overnight at Tokyo anyway for US bound pax on JL. If you look at JL's schedule, they aren't really keen on US/Canada bound pax. All pax will have to overnight at NRT on their return. JL is happy to serve just the JP-MY + beyond traffic at KUL. And MY-US market is tiny. More than half the plane will be connecting pax if they serve say KUL-LAX nonstop (the largest market US-MY market).

They don't even have daytime slots lol. And I don't believe Japan has granted foreign carriers 5th freedom at HND.

Very lol. When they built T1 as it is, it was meant to handle 25 MPPA. I think they tweaked it a little and it can handle. T1 handled 7.224 MM pax from January to March this year. Assuming the same number of pax travel for the rest of the quarters, it will hit around 28-29 MPPA.

Semi-open skies. Unlimited 3rd and 4th freedom traffic between any points in Malaysia and Japan. Only exception is HND where Malaysia based carrier are given 14 weekly night slots (7 of those slots must be used to code-share with a Japanese carrier; night slots are 22:00-06:00). Malaysia carriers are also limited to 4x weekly 5th freedom flights beyond NRT to SFO, LAX, and ICN (hence MH's former, MH92/93, KUL-NRT-LAX operated only 3-4x a week whilst the rest was via TPE). Also why Air Asia X operated to HNL via KIX.

Agreed. I feel like public listed doesn't mean it wouldn't be subjected to leakages or government intervention. I highly doubt EPF and Khazanah as major shareholders would want to mess around their portfolio and GIP/ADIA would want to invest in loss-making or funny accounting companies. MAHB has fiduciary duty to ensure that their shareholders get their return on investment. They would have done their due diligence. I think this more of MAHB trying to raise funds for future projects. I quite like what MAHB has done with the T1 satellite now. It's quite nice. They could replace the glass lifts, escalators, and transfer counters tho. Some retail does seem a bit tight but I guess they didn't design it for a lot of retail back in the 90s.