I. Wong

Air Asia SBW-SIN starting December 2022, 4X weekly

Firefly's new B737 services from PEN to KCH, BKI and JHB from 11/4/2022

Finally, AK is flying PEN to SBW twice weekly on Thursday and Saturday

Scoot is starting Singapore to Miri twice weekly on Wednesday and Saturday using A320

PEN-SBW 3x weekly from 8/12/2020 and you can actually book on AK website. Really didn't see this route coming, especially amid COVID-19 https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/294481/airasia-4q20-malaysia-domestic-network-additions/

Six flights per week for SBW-BWN, but overnight required for transit passengers to most destination. I wonder how attractive is this, even if the fares are extremely low for some international destination. https://www.flyroyalbrunei.com/malaysia/en/deals/sibu-to-brunei-rblink-launching-deals/

BSB? Brasilia in Brazil? Will this means there will be first international flight between SBW and BWN? I hope this route can sustain as BWN can be a good alternative to KUL and SIN for those travelling abroad from Sarawak. I noticed few months ago, BI had good price for flight from LHR to KUL at less than £400 return.

MAB make a u-turn, again quietly add snack and beverages back to Economy Lite.

MAB silently remove snack and beverage from Economy Lite, only Basic and Flexi have snack included in the fares.

They have just updated their FAQ https://mhcare.malaysiaairlines.com/faq/s/article/How-much-is-my-free-baggage-allowance?language=en_US

I know many airlines have hand bag only fares, but for MAB to charge RM303 for a 20kg luggage is simply unreasonable (even AK charge around RM26-30 for a 20kg luggage). I hope this is an error in the system, but most people would either choose Basic fare which is inclusive of 20kg luggage, or stick on Lite fare with hand carry luggage only. Previously, I always travelled with MAB domestically because their fares came with 30kg checked in luggage and inflight meal, if the fares were just slightly more expensive than AK. I used to pay between RM100 and RM130 one way for flight between KUL and Sarawak. But now, to have 20kg luggage (plus meal) included in your ticket, I need to pay around RM200 one way. The gap between AK and MH is widening in my opinion when one can still get AK ticket for less than RM150 inclusive checked in luggage and meal. In some highly competitive domestic routes, I don't think it will do anything good to MAB.

If you just buy Economy Lite ticket and then add a 20kg checked luggage, it will cost you RM303.16 for a 20kg luggage alone. Something is not right here for MAB. So, basically, those who need to check in luggage should select Economy Basic, rather than Lite.

MAB introduced three types of economy fares: Economy Lite (which come with no checked luggage allowance), Economy Basic (with 20kg checked luggage) and Economy Flexible (with 25kg checked luggage). This is the first time I have seen this when trying to book a domestic flight. I don't think I have come across any news regarding this change. Basically, if you want to travel with MAB with checked luggage, you need to pay much more than before. This may just make their fares not competitive when compared with AK.

UK the latest country to ban MAX 8 https://twitter.com/dannihewson/status/1105458620743991296?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1105458724318130176&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.co.uk%2Fnews%2Flive%2Fbusiness-47493634

Approximately 8 AK flights to/ from KUL, 4 AK flights to/ from JHB and 3 MH flights to/ from KUL everyday in last few days. On most days, you would be able to get a total of 22 daily A320/ B738 departures or arrivals. SBW is certainly busy during festival period.

2018 update (in bold) Aer Lingus A321 Air Asia B733, A320 Air China A332, A333, B744 Air Europa EMBRAER ERJ195, A332, A333 Air France A320, B772 Avianca Colombia A320, A332 Avianca Brasil A320 Avianca El-Salvador (Taca) EMBRAER ERJ190, A319, A320, Azul Linhas Aéreas EMBRAER ERJ195 Biman Bangladesh A310 BMI Baby B733, B735 BMI British Midland A319, A320, A321 BMI Regional EMBRAER ERJ145 British Airways A319, A320, A321, B734, B763, B773 British Airways Cityflyer BAE Avro 146 RJ-85, EMBRAER ERJ190 Cathay Dragon A333 China Eastern Airlines MD82 China Southern Airlines A320, B738, B788 Easyjet A319, A320 Egypt Air A332, B773 Emirates A332, A380, B772, B773 Etihad Airways A332, A333, A346, B772, B773 Far Eastern Air Transportation B752 Finnair A319, A320, A321, A359 Firefly B738 Flybe DHC-8-402Q Dash 8, EMBRAER ERJ195 Flybe Nordic ATR72 Gol Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes B737, B738 Gulf Air A332, A343 Jet Airways B739 Jet2.com B733, B752 Jet Time B737 KLM B733, B734, B737, B738, B772 LATAM A319, A320, A321, A359, B763, B773, B789 Logan Air (Flybe) DHT-6 Twin Otter Lufthansa B735, A300, A310, A343, A346, B744, B748 Lufthansa Cityline CRJ 900 Malaysia Airlines F27, F50, B732, B735, B734, B738, B744, A300, A333, A388, DC10, MD11 Mandarin Airlines F100 MasWings ATR72, DHT-6 Twin Otter Nordic Regional Airlines ATR72 Norwegian Air Shuttle B738 Oman Air A332, A333, B789 Qatar Airways A320, A346, B773, B788 Ryanair B738 S7 Siberia Airlines A319 Singapore Airlines A310, B772, B773, B744 SriLankan Airlines A343 TAM A319 Thai Air Asia A320 Thai Lion Air B739 Thomas Cook B752 Thomson Airways B752, B738 Trans Asia Airway A320, A321 Turkish Airlines B738, B739, A343 Vueling Airlines A320, A321 Wizz Air A320 Xiamen Airlines B737

A total of six routes ceased, including Kota Kinabalu - Sandakan, Kota Kinabalu - Tawau, Kota Kinabalu - Miri, Kuching - Miri, Kuching - Kota Kinabalu and Kuching - Sibu.

QR also use A330-200 on DOH-PEN route and no more B787-800.

Although not a directly related news on MH17, but if you read through the news, you would find something interesting here: "A laptop seized from the suspects was found to have been used in Brazil, Switzerland and Malaysia. In Malaysia it was used to target the investigation into the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH-17 over rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine in 2014, killing all 298 people on board. The cyber operation targeted Malaysia's attorney general's office and Malaysian police, Ambassador Wilson said." https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45746837 I wonder what would Malaysian government react to this?

A local newspaper reported last time that it is sometimes even cheaper for you to fly from SBW to BKI via KCH on Air Asia than directly from SBW to BKI on MASWings

JHB-SBW will also go from 10x to 14x per week

I am now at KLIA and looking at the flight information screen, there are quite a few cancellation this evening. Maybe due to crew shortage? The morning MH067 from ICN was quite empty at least in the main deck economy section, but some Korean passengers were enjoying it. Most had full row for themselves to enjoy the flight. I think upper deck economy class section was quite full. Not sure about first class or business class cabin. The 4pm A330-300 flight to BKK had been delayed until now, passengers just boarding. On-time performance was quite bad for MAB recently, even both of my flights to/ from ICN were delayed up to one hour.

My tomorrow morning flight from ICN to KUL has been upgraded to A380 from the usual A333 as well. Not to complain as this is my first time on MAB A380. Initially, I thought the upgrade was due to increasing demand, but only to realise later during checking in that, most economy seats on the main deck are empty.

Good on QR. They are now flying 24x weekly to KUL (more than EK) as well as 3x to PEN. With LGK soon to come, they will become the largest middle east airlines in Malaysia in terms of number of flights. I thought BKI will be the next destination especially after PEN.

2017 update (in bold) Aer Lingus A321 Air Asia B733, A320 Air China A332, A333, B744 Air Europa EMBRAER ERJ195, A332, A333 Air France A320, B772 Avianca Colombia A320, A332 Avianca Brasil A320 Avianca El-Salvador (Taca) EMBRAER ERJ190, A319, A320, Azul Linhas Aéreas EMBRAER ERJ195 Biman Bangladesh A310 BMI Baby B733, B735 BMI British Midland A319, A320, A321 BMI Regional EMBRAER ERJ145 British Airways A319, A320, A321, B734, B763 British Airways Cityflyer BAE Avro 146 RJ-85, EMBRAER ERJ190 Cathay Dragon A333 China Eastern Airlines MD82 China Southern Airlines A320, B738, B788 Easyjet A319, A320 Egypt Air A332, B773 Emirates A332, A380, B772, B773 Etihad Airways A332, A333, A346, B772, B773 Far Eastern Air Transportation B752 Finnair A319, A320, A321 Firefly B738 Flybe DHC-8-402Q Dash 8, EMBRAER ERJ195 Flybe Nordic ATR72 Gol Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes B737, B738 Gulf Air A332, A343 Jet Airways B739 Jet2.com B733, B752 Jet Time B737 KLM B733, B734, B737, B738, B772 LATAM A319, A320, A321, B763, B773 Logan Air (Flybe) DHT-6 Twin Otter Lufthansa B735, A300, A310, A343, A346, B744, B748 Lufthansa Cityline CRJ 900 Malaysia Airlines F27, F50, B732, B735, B734, B738, B744, A300, A333, DC10, MD11 Mandarin Airlines F100 MasWings ATR72, DHT-6 Twin Otter Nordic Regional Airlines ATR72 Norwegian Air Shuttle B738 Qatar Airways A320, A346, B773, B788 Ryanair B738 S7 Siberia Airlines A319 Singapore Airlines A310, B772, B773, B744 SriLankan Airlines A343 TAM A319 Thai Air Asia A320 Thai Lion Air B739 Thomas Cook B752 Thomson Airways B752, B738 Trans Asia Airway A320, A321 Turkish Airlines B738, B739, A343 Wizz Air A320 Xiamen Airlines B737