Keno Omar

Mine are... MH-Enrich - so far enough mileage to get to most Asean cities EK-Skywards - so far enough mileage for DXB to MCT/BAH/DOH/DMM rtn KL-FlyingBlue - a bit more to qualify for intra-europe flights CX-AsiaMiles - originally planned to use it on CX/JL for KUL-NRT trip but flew MH instead - will use it for KUL-CDG trip on GF this Sept

OOL had a 1-stop service to KIX via CNS on B767 during the days of AO. Does that mean it can handle A330?

I suppose whether or not KLM considers KUL as a hub is not really relevant here. If KLM thought that nonstop services to SIN & MNL make business sense, then that's all there is to it. UA maintains a hub in NRT whereby the majority of flights to the Far East used to be operated via NRT but over the years this have been replaced by more nonstops from US mainland, bypassing their Asian hub because the nonstop demand is definitely there (and for competitive reasons).

Is Indonesia Air Asia largely controlled from KL, specifically in terms of Malaysian safety practices and standards; or merely hiding behind Tune Air brand while still maintaining their "local" way of doing business, which causes all Indonesian airlines to be all judged equally unsafe by EU?

I would assume the same too, but if these seasonal services are meant to cash in on the July/August peak holiday season in the Middle East, why bother selling them cheap to us Malaysians when they could easily fill the seats by selling them at full price to rich Arab tourists?

Interesting aviation development nonetheless, but I fail to see how this is a MalaysianWings.com material since the majority of us hold passport that not even valid for travel to Israel

I'm not sure why Hillary Clinton chose Celine Dion's "You and I" for her presidential campaign. The video clip looks like an advertisement for Air Canada. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_Yx67fRkmo High above the mountains, far across the sea I can hear your voice calling out to me Brighter than the sun and darker than the night I can see your love shining like a light And on and on this earth spins like a carousel If I could travel across the world The secrets I would tell You and I Were meant to fly Higher than the clouds We'll sail across the sky So come with me And you will feel That we're soaring That we're floating up so high Cause you and I were meant to fly Sailing like a bird high on the wings of love Take me higher than all the stars above I'm burning, yearning Gently turning round and round I'm always rising up I never Want to come back down

Thanks for the info. I guess it's fair to say that SZX service is targetted mainly as a gateway to PRC rather than Hong Kong. For the latter, it's more convenient to fly into MFM for us Malaysians for visa reasons. Btw I had a Chinese visa but was never utilized (1 year validity but now expired). Supposed to attend a training in Shenzhen about 2 years ago but cancelled the last minute

I read that in order to promote foreign visitors in Hong Kong to visit Shenzhen, China has a visa-free policy for visits to certain areas of Shenzhen (i would imagine the central area + the touristy bits). So if one were to fly KUL-SZX just for the sake of using the airport and then immediately cross the border to Hong Kong, would a Malaysian still require a Chinese visa? Taking the example of MFM, we don't need a visa for Macau SAR so it's a cheap and relatively convenient gateway to Hong Kong.

I have been waiting this annoucement ever since KLIA was opened . With all the hassle of going to KLIA from my area (Shah Alam), it just doesn't make much sense to fly to PEN, KUA or JHB, let alone IPH. The market from SZB is huge and MH's previous business model did not allow simultaneous operations out of both airports but now it's different with Firefly around. I would expect Firefly would soon look something like Pelangi Air's network. Link : [1997 Route Map] MH would probably retain at least 1 daily KLIA service to KUA to connect to European evening services. Tourism in Cherating for European visitors is big business, plus I wouldn't understimate the interference from Tourism Ministry and Pahang Govt. For us KL/KUA folks, SZB is the way to go.

While searching for cheap flights for my trip to Dublin (leaving tomorrow ), here is the list, in order of increasing fare to LHR/LGW, with GF being the cheapest: 1. GF 2. EK 3. QR 4. KL 5. MH 6. SQ

Asia/OZ Malaysia Airlines Air Asia Pelangi Airways Royal Brunei Emirates Saudi Arabian Qantas Australian Airlines (pre-1993 version) Europe British Airways - mainline British Airways - GB Airways British Airways - Brymon Airways Olympic Airways KLM BMI Aer Lingus Easyjet Easyjet Switzerland Ryanair Monarch Airlines My Travel Lite Buzz (now becomes Ryanair) Go-Fly (now becomes Easyjet)

Hajj pilgrims head for Saudi Arabia for 2-3 months of the year but don't overlook the HUGE business of Umrah (lesser-hajj) which can be done outside the Hajj months. Hotel rates during Ramadan alone could easily match those during the actual Hajj season. AKX could form a partnership with Hajj/Umrah travel operators (or create themselves) which could considerably bring down the cost of Umrah (an agency/operator is necessary as it's very hard for individuals to get a Hajj/Umrah visa). AK has already revolutionalized air travel in Malaysia. I would be great if they could do Now Everybody* Can Go To Makkah. *well, for Muslims anyway

Of course, this is not the official list, just a teaser for what you may expect from Air Asia Long Haul (formerly known as Air Asia X). I'm surprised that they don't list down Manchester as a possibility Source: http://www.airasia.com/site/en/page.jsp?reference=aax Europe 1. London Stansted 2. Berlin 3. Paris 4. Prague 5. Moscow West Asia 6. Sharjah 7. Jeddah 8. Madinah 9. Cairo 10. Karachi 11. Lahore 12. Islamabad 13. Amritsar 14. Delhi 15. Mumbai 16. Hyderabad 17. Bangalore 18. Goa East Asia 19. Tianjin 20. Hangzhou 21. Ningbo 22. Shenyang 23. Kunming 24. Chengdu 25. Chongqing 26. Xian 27. Taipei 28. Tokyo 29. Osaka 30. Fukuoka 31. Sapporo 32. Seoul 33. Cheongju 34. Pusan Australia 35. Perth 36. Melbourne 37. Sydney 38. Brisbane SE Asia (well, it's in the map!) 39. Manila Clark 40. Kuala Lumpur

Back in the 90s when Dr M visited Republic of Macedonia, I recall reading a newspaper report about MAS looking into flying to Macedonia to "strengthens" bilateral ties (hmm I never knew there was ANY tie to begin with). Some geography lessons: the country is located between Kosovo & Greece and their capital is Skopje. If that were to materialize, it would definitely rank very high on MAS "exotic destination" list.

I called up GF office about a month ago to book a flight to Dublin but was told that all bookings from KUL has been put on hold as they could not guarantee aircraft availability between KUL & MCT before 18 June the earliest. Now we know that's no longer true...

Governments can only pave the way to open up air market agreements, the rest is up to airline companies to decide if such a venture actually makes sense. Mind you Brunei has an open sky agreement with USA for years and frankly there doesn't seem to be much need for BI to launch their own service to the State anytime soon, if ever!

Same here. For my case I have a MEng in Telcommunications and been working in this line for the past 3 years since my graduation though I can honestly say that I don't have that much interest in this industry to begin with. Later this year (or early next year) I'm planning to pursue a full-time MBA mainly because I'm seeking for a career change from a largely technical to more on managerial or enterpreneural line (preferrably away from telco industry). I came across several aviation-related MBA courses around namely Griffith in Australia, Cranfield in UK and Toulouse in France but based on reading and advice given by people around me the best is to do a general MBA and not limiting yourself to a particular specialized field. You just never know what opportunities there may be upon completion of your studies, the truth is not everybody is fortunate enough to land a job of their dreams right away. However, to get around this I would probably choose a thesis topic that is related to airline business - this would work equally well for job application to other non-airline industries as a proof of your (general) business competence and obviously this would be a much-needed edge on your application to airline companies. The bottom line is we need to keep ours options open but at the same time never stop pursuing your dreams.

I strongly believe that this would be a great boost to the local Aceh economy, both by the business community and tourists. There might not be as many things to see or do as in Medan or Padang but I believe many travellers wish to give it a go for the sake of helping the local economy or try to see with their own eyes the devastating effects of the tsunami. It's not the kind of tourism that appeals to everyone, but the market is there I believe. Most airlines routes are launched purely on profit basis, it's no different with AK but if this is their own little way to help open up Aceh, then kudos to AK! If all goes well, I dare say that KUL would be *the* premier gateway to Aceh as AK (and KUL) grows ever bigger. Nearby Medan is hardly a global hub while Jakarta is some 3 hours away in this huge archipelagic nation.

There's no reason for SAA to fly to KUL once this codeshare is in place, they get to serve KUL without sending their own plane. If anything they would probably start flying to SIN in addition to SQ services to take full advantage of their Star Alliance partner connections. I'm suprised that CPT is not in the list, MH should now axe both CPT & EZE and just codeshare on SAA service instead. *SAA: JNB-EZE commencing July 2007

Let's get some facts out first... here's a list of 5 star and 4 star airlines (including affiliate airlines) based on Skytrax ranking. Go figure! For its high standard of service MAS deserves to be in the same league as SQ and CX but let's face it, the only realistic alliance for MAS to be in right now is with SkyTeam. Star Alliance SQ 5* TG 4* NZ 4* NH 4* OZ 4* LH 4* LX 4* OS 4* SA 4* Oneworld CX 5* BA 4* QF 4* JL 4* KJ 4* YW 4* KA 4* (soon) Skyteam AF 4* KE 4*

SV domestic flight is already cheap as it is for a country with a relatively high cost of living. Standard Y fare JED-RUH is RM280 single for a 90 minute flight; while JED-MED is only RM140 single for a 50 minute flight (all fares inclusive of tax). It would be better off to concentrate on international routes where current fares to regional destinations are pretty steep. This would surely prove popular with the millions of neighbouring Arab & sub-continent expats working within the Kingdom, similar to what Air Arabia is doing in the UAE.

No idea how much AK will be charging for taxes + yadayada for this route, so let's assume is about the same as KUL-HKT return which is RM245. At RM137 one-way, this works out at RM519 return. This is assuming you can get the lowest fare, chances are you can't on your preferred date as in most cases... How much does a standby seat on MH/SQ costs these days?

Before we start dreaming about SQ serving multiple cities in Malaysia (beside KUL/PEN), let's first see the SQ's past records. Macau was first served by SQ, then MI, then finally Tiger. Surabaya has always been served by mainline SQ but was downgraded to MI, citing low yields (much to the fury of the locals then). DRW went from SQ to Tiger after several years of absence. Similarly for Malaysia, I doubt that the current arrangement will change much even after the liberalization. SQ will continue to serve only KUL & PEN while MI to BKI, KCH & LGK. Potential secondary destinations include TGG, KUA, SBW, TWU & SDK but I wouldn't count on MI serving these points either, as these seem to be more of Tiger Airways market. Perhaps an exception would be MYY, which may be able to support a MI service due to its oil & gas market. SQ Group has mainline SQ, MI and Tiger for a reason, something that MAS could learn a thing or two from if they wish to survive in this volatile industry.

Unfortunately not all airlines are transparent about their taxes (of all sorts) and fuel surcharge, e.g. when booking online. MH for example, misleadingly show the fare breakdown = fare per passenger + tax per passenger, whereby "tax" is inclusive of (all sorts of) surcharges. No explicit mention of fuel surcharge is to be found. How exactly would I know where the RM976 to LHR goes to? AK on the other hand breaks down the fare clearly. For a return flight KUL-Macau-KUL, the "tax + etc" breakdown is: Airport tax RM85 Aministration fee RM38 Fuel surcharge RM132