Azri M.

not yet la, booking starts june 9.

Here's my list: Within Malaysia: Alor Star (AOR) Kota Bharu (KBR) Kuching (KCH) Kuala Lumpur (KUL) Miri (MYY) Penang (PEN) Sibu (SBW) Subang (SZB) Inside Asia apart from Malaysia: Bangkok (BKK) Narita (NRT) Singapore (SIN) Taipei (TPE) In USA: Cedar Rapids, Iowa (CID) Chicago O'hare (ORD) Los Angeles (LAX) In Australia: Avalon, near Melbourne (AVV) Coolangatta, Gold Coast (OOL) Darwin (DRW) Melbourne (MEL) Sydney (SYD) soon, Adelaide (ADE)

We've been bashing about MAS, I notice a couple of new positive things that MAS and the groups are featuring. I am listing it here. New MAS website look. Although there are a few kinks and the booking engine is still not great, it is much better than what we have before. Web check in now works domestically even with MASwings routes. Carbon offset, pay slightly more to help reduce carbon and save the earth. The campaign goes to the entire MAS groups including Firefly and MASwings. It is quite nice to see they are doing something. MASwings carbon offset website : http://greenjourney.com.my/ Firefly carbon offset website : http://www.fireflyz.com.my/about/environment/ MAS carbon offset website : http://www.malaysiaairlines.com/campaigns/ MASwings have introduced PREPAID FLIGHT CARD. You can buy the card and fly within your nominated zone. Apparently, the fare with the card is cheaper than the normal booking payment, or at least comparable to the cheapest price on MASwings. I think it is truly innovative. http://www.maswings.com.my/upta.html I hope they will come up with more innovative ways like this, without sacrificing passengers comfort, like the infamous snekbox.

JQ will end KUL service on 1 Sept 2008, not the end of the month. This means they are operating in exactly ONE YEAR. http://bernama.com/bernama/v3/news_business.php?id=337847

There are four airports that JQ poises to choose for its intercontinental hub. SIN, KUL, SGN, and BKK. Out of all, two hubs were now being feed via DRW with A320 (which is hardly long hauls), while flight to KUL will be withdrawn. That leaves BKK. BKK is the only destination plying with A330 from Melbourne. Hence, there is a greater chance that BKK will be the intercontinental hub for JQ. Already, Bangkok is a popular destination for Australian and European alike. They give a deadline in choosing at the end of this year. Anything is possible though, but looking at their route-cutting action, BKK is most likely be chosen as their stopover hub. SIN and SGN despite being the Jetstar hubs can be some sort of feeder to the BKK, thus strengthening their South East Asian presence. It makes so much sense. If JQ follows this, then the presence of KUL will be diminished entirely. What we may see for KUL is only a feeder airport from SIN hub, nothing more.

Summary: This news article is about Bangkok Airways entry to SkyTeam but it has the MAS news in there. I thought it would be better to be brought out in a separate posting instead of the SkyTeam post. http://www.bangkokpost.com/Business/06Jun2008_biz40.php ---- So Vietnam Airlines entry will possibly be next year, while MAS may be in 2010. Interesting to follow the suit...

The biggest blow to this news really is the disappearance of KUL in QF group. It is only operated one year. MH continues to dominate the route, therefore, MH can charge the price as high as it can. The only hope is D7 to fill the gap. QF ditches Japan routes and handed over to Jetstar as JQ have lower operating cost. Two blows to Malaysia today. Petrol price increases and losing KUL as a potential hub by JQ.

Carrier Career, Potato Potayto.. big deal...hahahha Sorry.. my mistake.... HYBRID CARRIER>>><<<>>><<>>>

Services cut by QF groups by September 2008: IN SUMMARY: Among services to be cut : QF MEL-NRT service JQ SYD-KUL service JQ CNS-NGO-KIX service Services with reduced/change in frequency/capacity: SYD-SGN changed from direct A330 flight to 5 weekly A320 flight stopover at DRW. PER-CGK and PER-DPS services to be operated by JQ instead of QF SYD-LAX service will be reduced from 17 weekly to 15 weekly when the A380 arrive. New OOL-NRT flights by Jetstar. Fresh from Qantas newsroom: Qantas Announces International Schedule Changes Latest News Sydney, 05 June 2008The Qantas Group today announced changes to its international services as it continues to manage the impact of high oil prices. The Chief Executive Officer of Qantas, Mr Geoff Dixon, said the changes, which follow last week's announcement regarding domestic services, included market exits, capacity cuts and the replacement of Qantas services with Jetstar services on a number of routes. Mr Dixon said the cost of fuel had changed the way the Qantas Group had to do business over the next two years. "We have to look closely at each individual market, including the number of frequencies we operate and which of our flying businesses is better suited to serve those destinations." Mr Dixon said Japan and South East Asia would be the most affected markets by the schedule changes. "The Japan-Far North Queensland market has also been particularly difficult for Qantas for a number of years. At current fuel prices, the Group would lose more than $100 million operating to Japan under our existing schedule." Mr Dixon said Qantas would engage the tourism industry at seeking better ways of offering viable options for inbound tourism into the future. Mr Dixon said the changes to the Japan schedule included: * the withdrawal of Qantas' thrice-weekly Melbourne-Tokyo (Narita) A330 return services from September 2008; * a reduction in Qantas' Sydney-Tokyo (Narita) A330 return services from nine to seven return services per week from September 2008; * Jetstar's withdrawal from the Cairns-Osaka-Nagoya route from December 2008; * the replacement of Qantas' 14 weekly B767 Cairns-Tokyo (Narita) services with a daily Jetstar non-stop A330 two-class service from December 2008; and * the introduction of new Gold Coast-Tokyo (Narita) services five times per week, operated by Jetstar with two-class A330s from December 2008, in addition to Jetstar's daily Sydney-Gold Coast-Osaka services. Mr Dixon said that under the new schedules, the Qantas Group would continue to offer significant capacity - more than 11,500 seats per week - between Japan and Queensland. To support the schedule changes, Jetstar would need to free up A330 aircraft and, as a result, would: * withdraw from its Sydney-Kuala Lumpur operation to make available an A330 aircraft; and * replace its existing three weekly A330 services that operated between Sydney and Ho Chi Minh City with five A320 return services on the new route of Sydney-Darwin-Ho Chi Minh City from September 2008. He said Jetstar would also replace Qantas on: * the Perth-Denpasar route, with up to four Jetstar A320 services taking over from Qantas' B737-800 services from December 2008; and * Perth-Jakarta, with three Jetstar A320 return services per week replacing the existing three Qantas B737-800 services from December 2008. Mr Dixon said Qantas would close its pilot base in Cairns, with around 40 Cairns-based pilots returning to Sydney or other bases. "Qantas will maintain its existing cabin crew base in Cairns to service domestic operations, and Jetstar will establish a new base for pilots and cabin crew in Perth from October," he said. Mr Dixon said that as a result of the international schedule changes, there would be a small number of job losses in Cairns and Japan. These were in addition to those flagged in last week's announcement, which were expected to be in the low hundreds, and would also be managed initially on a voluntary basis. He said in addition to the Asian flight changes, Qantas would reduce its B747-400 Sydney-Los Angeles services from 17 to 15 per week, following the commencement of A380 flights on the route at the end of the year. "Using the larger A380s on a spread of our USA services will enable us to grow Melbourne-Los Angeles capacity and maintain our total current capacity levels from Australia to the USA." Mr Dixon said Qantas had done everything possible to mitigate the effects of the schedule changes we have been forced to make. "We will continue to work with individual markets and look for opportunities as conditions improve to address capacity issues and reinstate services where and when we can."

MAS a New Breed of Hybrid Carrier: Idris By Kang Siew Li ISTANBUL: Malaysia Airlines (MAS) said it has evolved into a new breed of hybrid carrier, which blends the traditional full-service carrier traits with that of low-cost carriers (LCCs). "We continue to offer our customers five-star services, but at the same time competitive and affordable fares. Once you start doing that, you enter into a different league," MAS chief executive officer and managing director Datuk Seri Idris Jala told Malaysian reporters on the sidelines of the International Air Transport Association's (IATA) 64th Annual General Meeting and World Air Transport Summit here. He described MAS' current business model as being between full- fledged full-service airlines such as Cathay Pacific Airways and Singapore Airlines (SIA) and LCCs like AirAsia Bhd. "Today no (network carriers) has done what we have done Take for example our .'Everyday Low Fares' campaign. We are creating a new market, attracting people who have never flown on MAS or AirAsia before and I predict this market to be quite big," he added. Previously, moves by MAS including the introduction of meal boxes for economy class passengers on its regional short-haul flights and the "Everyday Low Fares" campaign had brought confusion over the national carrier's business focus and were seen as moving away from the business model that made it successful. At the same time, AirAsia has called on the carrier to stop competing in its market and concentrate on the premium, full- service market. "The airline industry's operating environment has become very tough and most airlines recognise that this is the worst in the history of the airline business. I believe we can overcome this difficult period, but we have to be relentless about reducing our costs from where we were before. We must choose a different game (to remain competitive and sustainable)," said Idris. On Monday, IATA chief Giovanni Bisignani had warned that tough times were ahead for the global aviation industry and rocketing fuel prices have forced the world airlines group to downgrade its industry profit to a loss of US$2.3 billion (RM7.4 billion) based on an average oil price of US$106.5 (RM344) a barrel. Idris said MAS' five-year business transformation plan (BTP2) plays a key role to ensure the carrier pulls through difficult times. "We will expedite (our BTP2) even more. Although we have successfully turned around, if we run our business as it is now, we will not be able to weather the storm because oil prices have gotten so high. We have got to transform ourselves and quicken the pace," he added. On losing its premium customers to full-fledged airlines such as Cathay Pacific and SIA as they continue to improve their premium products while MAS focuses on reducing costs, Idris said MAS would buy new aircraft as part of its long-term plan to provide for market growth and for replacement of existing aircraft. It has ordered 35 new 737-800s with an option to buy 20 more, of which the first will be delivered in September 2010. However, it is reviewing its plans to buy new wide-body planes to replace its ageing B777 and B747 fleet because of high fuel prices. "But between now and 2010, we have to be content with the existing fleet. (To ensure that we do not lose our premium customers), we are spending money to refurbish the cabins of all aircraft with new seat covers and carpets. We are also changing the crew's uniform to make it more contemporary but still keep the batik and kebaya. The colour will be brighter. "It will be a cosmetic change, not a total retrofit as that will involve a lot of money and would require five to seven years to recover the cost. The target plan is to complete the entire exercise by the end of January next year," he said, adding that the exercise will be funded internally. Its cash reserve currently stands at RM5 billion. "In the course of next year, we are also looking at introducing other projects that will be good for the customers," said Idris. He did not answer the questions on how to prevent losing the premium market. Don't tell me having newer cabin and newer flight uniform will cause them to come to MAS in drives... Sigh... my prediction is correct.. MAS is heading to be hybrid..

Upon browsing the different cabin classes in the website, I stumble upon BUSINESS CLASS. Have MAS changed the name Golden Club class into just the BUSINESS CLASS???? This is following SQ where it changes the name Raffles class to just Business Class.

Can you load it up to MW? I can't open the link. It says "Page Load Error"

Maybe the kebaya will soon be warna-warni (colourful) so as to complement the Citrawarna Malaysian Hospitality?

Hmm???? Is this a joke? I tried mock booking on the same date as above... nothing like that??

You actually get 7kg hand luggage + 15 kg cabin luggage. Not really confusing.. basically if you want to keep the present luggage allocation, you just have to add AU/SGD5 extra for luggage. It is already applicable for booking made starting last night.

Prepay: Hand Luggage - Free 7kg 15 KG - S$5 20 KG - S$15 25 KG - S$25 30 KG - S$40 Pay at Airport 15 KG - S$20 (thats about RM50!) Excess luggage: S$12 per kg (RM28) Basically for TT flight in Australia, just replace Sing dollars with Aus dollars. So the pay is even more significant. The excesses are very expensive, lesson of the day is, better prepay.

Have you guys seen the new MAS website survey? What do you guys think? I am pasting them here for us to scrutinize: What do you guys think, I felt that Section A is very positive in nature, and not neutral. Share what you guys put in the Section B as well. It's good that at least they try to value online users like us.

I think Tianjin destination will pair with Perth flights on D7. So likely after 2 November (when the D7 flight to Perth commences). My guesses are: So they are doing KUL-OOL-KUL-HGH-KUL at the moment... and the brand new airbus will be doing KUL-PER-KUL-TSN-KUL and the 2nd new airbus they are getting in Dec will do KUL-MEL/AVV-KUL-ATQ(Amritsar)-KUL (My speculation only) And then with their A340 they will do KUL-STN-KUL Any other speculation? Maybe Azmir I. can confirm this.

Now really, just thinking about the previous comments by people. Did Datuk TF really quote that Red belongs to AirAsia? I think he said, low cost belowng to AirAsia, not "red" as in the colour red. I think we overimplied it, correct?

It will be unveiled soon...

I was there recently, no extra terminal, no construction at all. Thats why I've wondered what happened...

This is why... No international terminal yet at Avalon Airport: http://www.travelweekly.com.au/dirplus/ima.../19_05_2008.pdf For those who doesn't know, Avalon Airport is about 60 km to Melbourne, it is currently the Jetstar base to big cities within Australia. Jetstar also flies to Melbourne Airport (20km away from the city). Also today in the news, Apparently, Jetstar wants to compete hand in hand with Tiger Airways in Melbourne Airport as well. Well, we will see how things are folding, or we may never see D7 into Melbourne at all.

You know, the ticket to Perth from Melbourne can be more expensive than that of PER-KUL (Edit: during the promotional period), even with Tiger. Crazy eh. Anyway, even though D7 doesnt fly to Melbourne, they still advertised in the popular newspaper - PAY FOR FEE (haha, instead of Pay for free), half a page of the tabloid size newspaper. They are really big with advertisement. By the time they fly to MEL, they may as well use the whole newspaper as the advertisement, much like what they did with http://www.thewest.com.au.

When I tried mock booking in MAS website in August, it returns 5 flights daily with 737, with 4 flights on Saturdays. Thats strange, I thought MAS flies 7 times a day. Are they downsizing already? How about SQ?