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Malaysia Airlines helps mum, child BACK HOME: Infant had been prevented from boarding flight home by AirAsia because of 'health risks'KUALA LUMPUR: MALAYSIA Airlines has flown home a mother and her 14-month-old daughter who were prevented from boarding an AirAsia flight back home from Vietnam. Izan Suhaila Mohd Ali, 36, and her daughter, Mariam Sofea Mohd Reza, were held back by AirAsia staff at the Ho Chi Minh airport on Saturday night after the latter was suspected of having chicken pox and deemed a health risk to other passengers. Malaysia Airlines group chief executive officer Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said Malaysia Airlines learned about Izan's predicament from Tourism Malaysia. "As it is a standard procedure for all passengers with symptoms of contagious disease to get a fit-to-fly certification from a doctor, we made the decision to take Mariam to a doctor. This is to ensure that no one passenger puts the health of another passenger at risk." He said Malaysia Airlines staff picked up the two from the hotel they were staying to a clinic. "A doctor examined the baby and confirmed she was no longer contagious. It was confirmed that the black spots she had were actually dry scabs. "Immediately after that, our staff worked on preparing travel documents for Izan, Mariam and two other relatives. They were booked on flight MH759 that departed Ho Chi Minh so that they did not have to spend another night in Ho Chi Minh and incur more costs." He said Malaysia Airlines staff based there drove the family back to the airport from the hotel for a quick check-in and they boarded the flight and departed Ho Chi Minh at 4.40pm yesterday. Jauhari said that the safety of passengers had always been a priority and thus, all measures were taken to help Izan and her baby, while at the same time, ensuring other passengers' health were not put at risk. "The ability of our team in Ho Chi Minh to act beyond their normal duties was praiseworthy. "They went out of their way in displaying a true spirit of compassion and empathy. I would like to thank all the staff involved in helping the mother and her daughter." Meanwhile, AirAsia Bhd chief executive officer Aireen Omar said the company had exercised its responsibility to ensure that the safety and wellbeing of its passengers were taken care of. It also reserved the right to deny boarding passengers suffering from communicable or chronic diseases at its discretion. "AirAsia adheres to global health regulations and standards in which a guest with chicken pox may only travel five days after the first symptom (rash) appears and must possess a valid medical certificate or doctors's letter to confirm that the guest is fit to travel," she said in a statement. Aireen said that the guidelines, established by the World Health Organisation, were to avoid jeopardising the health of the other 175 guests on board the flight. Aireen said AirAsia's ground representatives had provided the necessary assistance to the mother and her child and made arrangements to fly them back, as well as two accompanying adults, for free once the child was deemed medically fit to fly. She said they were offered hotel and transportation arrangements. Izan's sister, Norhamiza Mohd Ali, 53, had claimed that the AirAsia ground staff only dropped Izan and her baby off at a nearby taxi stand and did little to help other than agreeing to have her sent to a hospital or hotel. Norhamiza also said fellow passengers at the waiting area of the airport donated money to Izan after witnessing her predicament. Izan's case was highlighted by TV3 executive producer Mazidul Akmal Sidik, who witnessed the incident, on his blog on Sunday. He said he tried pleading with the airline staff to reconsider their decision but to no avail. SOURCE: http://www.nst.com.my/nation/general/malaysia-airlines-helps-mum-child-1.283107

Zest Air stopped flying to KLIA late last year if i'm not mistaken. So are they resuming flights to KUL?

QZ is relaunching DPS-BKI 3 times a week starting 27th July 2013. Hope it would last long this time around. AirAsia to Increase Perth - Bali Flights; Launch Bali - Sabah AirAsia Indonesia is to increase its flight frequency between Perth and Bali through an extra daily service, bringing the total up to four flights per day. The additional daily frequency will be operated by a brand new Airbus A320 effective 1 July 2013. Dharmadi, President Director of AirAsia Indonesia, said, “The demand for flights between Perth and Bali has been exceptionally strong since we first launched the route in June 2009, recording an average load factor of 85%. We are adding frequency to meet the rapidly growing demand from business and leisure travellers alike.” Flight QZ 8419 departs Perth at 10:35 local time and lands in Bali at 14:20 local time. The return flight QZ 8418 departs Bali at 06:20 local time and arrives in Perth at 10:00 local time. From Bali, passengers can continue their journey onwards to exotic domestic destinations such as Jakarta, Bandung, Makassar, Yogyakarta and Surabaya, as well as international destinations like Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Bangkok and the newly-introduced Kota Kinabalu. “AirAsia is committed to ensure ‘Now Everyone Can Fly’, anywhere and anytime. While other airlines offer higher fares during school holidays, AirAsia celebrates the holiday season by offering all-inclusive fares from Perth to Bali from as low as A$159 one way. There is no better time than now to plan a getaway to Bali with your loved ones!” added Dharmadi. In line with its business expansion to Australia, AirAsia Indonesia is also introducing three weekly flights between Bali and the capital of Sabah, Kota Kinabalu. Situated in the Northwest coast of Borneo Island, Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu is an ultimate holiday destination. The city caters to a wide range of interests; from shopping, mouth-watering culinary hunting, island hopping, to climbing Mount Kinabalu for the more adventurous and brave travellers. “Starting 27 July 2013, passengers can conveniently connect from Bali to Kota Kinabalu from as low as $42 all-inclusive per way,” said Dharmadi. Booking period for the special fares lasts until 28 April 2013 for travel between 1 July and 27 July 2013, for Perth and Kota Kinabalu respectively, all the way to 30 April 2014. SOURCE: http://www.asiatraveltips.com/news13/234-AirAsia.shtml

Another new airline to KLIA soon. Regent Airways will be the fourth carrier to ply Dhaka-Kuala Lumpur after MH, BG and Bangladesh United Airways. I dunno why AK couldn't make this route work. Regent Airways to fly abroad in June Regent Airways is going to add two Boeing 737-700 aircraft to its fleet next month with plans to launch international flights by early June. The carrier wants to open its first flight to Kuala Lumpur and later to Bangkok, Singapore, and Hong Kong, said Imran Asif, chief executive of the local private airline. “By end July, we will have operations in all these four destinations,” he said yesterday. The airline also wants to start flights to Kolkata within July. Owned by Chittagong based Habib Group, Regent will get delivery of the first 126-seater from Goodyear airport of Arizona, USA. The airline leased the plane from International Lease Finance Corporation for a period of six years, said a statement yesterday. The aircraft underwent extensive pre-delivery maintenance checks at the Goodyear airport, said the statement. The airline received permission from the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) last year to launch international flights. Last month, a team from CAAB’s airworthiness division and Regent Airways visited the US for a technical inspection and compliance audit for the aircraft’s import and registration in Bangladesh. With configuration for business and economy class, the plane is equipped with modern avionics for flight safety and fuel-saving winglets, said the statement. “It will be the youngest Boeing 737 ever registered in Bangladesh,” the statement said, adding that the next aircraft is expected to join Regent’s fleet by the end of May. The relatively younger carrier operates flights on domestic routes — Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet, Cox’s Bazar and Jessore. Since inception in November 2010, the airline carried more than five lakh passengers on domestic routes, said Asif. SOURCE: http://www.thedailystar.net/beta2/news/regent-airways-to-fly-abroad-in-june/

This is really really bad for Lion Air Grup's image and their other ventures (or future ventures).

Don't you think that it's good that KLIA main terminal/satellite is crowded and busy now. Last time they were lots of people here and at other forums were bitching that KLIA was somewhat a white elephant, too empty, boring, under-utilized and stuffs like that. Though personally, I prefer KLIA to be like when it was first opened many years ago, it was very spacious. I hated all these kiosks ala KL sentral that they have now.

The batik tail looks nice and classy, But i cannot stand the Batik typefont. Looks so amateurish to me.

Interesting! Things are definitely getting better and better this year 2013. I truly hope Firefly will revive its jet operations to join the fight!

Spicejet to start Madurai-KL flight? Indian low-cost carrier, Spicejet, is likely to commence flight operations to Kuala Lumpur from the Madurai Airport, which was recently upgraded as an international airport. The flights are expected to be operational by year-end, subject to necessary approvals being sought from authorities from both Malaysia and India. An industry source close to the deal said Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd had engaged with several Indian airlines with the intention of wooing them to operate flights to Kuala Lumpur, and as a result, Spicejet had shown immense level of interest on Malaysia and its prospects. "Other than Spicejet, the other potential candidate is Indigo," the source told Bernama on condition of anonymity. Currently, only Air India Express operates direct flights to Malaysia while Jet Airways ceased operations into Malaysia but continued with its code-sharing for the Kuala Lumpur-Chennai sector with Malaysia Airlines. Besides the flag carrier, Air India, other major airlines in India are Indigo, Spicejet, GoAir, Jet Lite, Jet Airways. Two of India's fast expanding airlines are Indigo and Spicejet. Madurai is the third largest city in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, with an approximate population of 1.5 million people. Madurai is also regarded as an important city of Hindu temples, as well as, an industrial and educational hub of the Southern Tamil Nadu.-- Bernama SOURCE: http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/20130321110726/Article/index_html

Good news for KLIA. After Malindo, Thai Smile, Air France & Turkish Airlines, PAL will be the latest airline to join the bandwagon. PAL will resume MNL-KUL starting March 31st. To date, there are 3 Filipino carriers operating at KLIA - Cebu Pacific, AirPhil Express & AirAsia Philippines. PAL to resume Kuala Lumpur flights next month By: Darwin G. Amojelar, InterAksyon.com February 20, 2013 4:18 PM MANILA - After more than a decade's absence, Philippine Airlines (PAL) will resume flights to Kuala Lumpur starting next month. In a filing with the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), PAL requested the reallocation of 900 seat entitlements to Kuala Lumpur in line with the Confidential Memorandum of Understanding (CMOU) Manila signed on June 11, 2011. Flights to the Malaysian capital will resume on March 31, following a Monday-Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday schedule. PAL initially will use its Airbus 319 for the route, but would shift to an A321 starting June 1 when daily flights to Kuala Lumpur begin. At present, PAL flies its passengers to Kuala Lumpur thrice daily through a code share agreement with Malaysian Airlines. A PAL source said the flag carrier stopped flying to Malaysia in early 2000 because of "commercial reasons," adding that the resumption of the service is in response to passenger clamor. To date, only Cebu Pacific and Airphil Express fly to Malaysia out of Manila. SOURCE: http://www.interaksyon.com/business/55483/pal-to-resume-kuala-lumpur-flights-next-month

I think Malindo Air, like Lion Air, positioned themselves as a hybrid carrier. Heard that Malindo Air will do their proving flights this month.

I don't know what's wrong with these wikipedia 'polices' who kept on removing almost any new airlines inputs especially on the KLIA, KKIA and Penang Airport wikipedia pages. Many times they removed Air France, Ethiopian and the more recent one Turkish Airlines, saying the sources were not reliable enough. I think if they have the time to google, they would have discovered tons of reliable news/sources regarding that.

Exciting news. Thai Airways subsidiary Thai Smile will fly to KLIA. Thai Smile will fly HKT-KUL 4 times a week. Thai Smile will be the 4th airlines to serve HKT-KUL after MH, AK and QR. THAI Smile Plans India / Malaysia Service Launch in S13by JL Update at 1025GMT 31JAN13 As per 31JAN13 Amadeus timetable listing, THAI Smile plans to launch 4 International routes to India and Malaysia from 31MAR13. However, all routes listed below are currently not available for reservation, as they are not being loaded in THAI’s inventory at time this post goes to press. Bangkok – Ahmedabad 2 weekly TG765 BKK1930 – 2300AMD 320 37 TG766 AMD2359 – 0620+1BKK 320 37 Phuket – Delhi 2 weekly TG761 HKT2205 – 0055+1DEL 320 14 TG762 DEL0155 – 0755HKT 320 25 Phuket – Kuala Lumpur 4 weekly TG771 HKT0915 – 1135KUL 320 x147 TG772 KUL1225 – 1250HKT 320 x147 Phuket – Mumbai 2 weekly TG763 HKT2235 – 0115+1BOM 320 25 TG764 BOM0230 – 0830HKT 320 36 SOURCE: http://airlineroute.net/2013/01/31/tg7-s13/

Now it's time for Colombo to be scrapped. Quite surprising. Thought they're doing quite well on this route. AirAsia to scrap daily KL-Colombo flight Frills-free airline, AirAsia, has scrapped its daily flight from Kuala Lumpur to Colombo and vice-versa effective Feb 26 due to commercial reasons. Affected passengers will be offered options to avoid any inconvenience that might arise due to the flight termination, the low-cost carrier said. "Every affected passenger will be notified via their e-mail and short messaging service (SMS). "AirAsia strongly urges passengers to keep their e-mail addresses and mobile numbers with their country code prefix updated in their AirAsia member profiles to ensure the airline can reach them to assist them," the budget airline said in a statement. It said affected passengers have a choice to move their flights to an earlier date to or from Kuala Lumpur or Colombo without any extra charges and subject to availability of seats or they will be offered a credit shell for the value that they paid with a validity of three months or a full refund. Passengers can also contact AirAsia's Customer Care Team via social media by tweeting to twitter.com/AskAirAsia for further enquiries about the route termination. -- Bernama SOURCE: http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/20130121172523/Article/index_html

Another exciting news. GA will be flying to Penang starting June 1st. Good news for PEN. Medan – Penang eff 01JUN13 PLANNED NEW Daily CRJ1000 service. Reservation not available at present time GA810 MES0645 – 0835PEN CRK D GA811 PEN0925 – 0915MES CRK D SOURCE: http://airlineroute.net/2013/01/21/ga-bkk-s13/

There were a number of airlines tried this route before, but most of them failed after a few months. Malaysia airlines did fly Fokker 50 to Zamboanga from Sandakan many years ago, followed by Filipino carriers South Phoenix Airways, Zest Air etc. I wonder how long this route will last this time around. AirPhil Express eyes flights to Sabah Monday, January 21st, 2013 Budget airline AirPhil Express, the sister company of flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL), plans to mount flights between Zamboanga City and Sandakan in Malaysia’s Sabah region, representing the company’s first international flight out of the key Mindanao airport. Documents from the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) said AirPhil Express planned direct flights to Sandakan, a popular eco-tourism destination and one of the largest cities in Sabah. AirPhil Express plans to impose a fuel surcharge of $15 for each passenger for the new service. Fuel surcharges are paid on top of regular ticket prices to cover the cost of fuel, which accounts for the bulk of an airline’s expenses. The Zamboanga-Sandakan flights will be the only international service out of the Zamboanga International Airport, Mindanao’s third-busiest airport after Davao and Cagayan de Oro. Zamboanga International Airport is operated by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP). Apart from AirPhil Express, only Cebu Pacific has flights to Zamboanga. AirPhil Express has international flights to Hong Kong, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, all served by its fleet of Airbus A320 aircraft. Latest government data showed that the company’s international passenger business slumped slightly to 104,820 passengers in the first three quarters of 2012 from 107,235 in the same period the year before. This came despite the growth in total international air traffic to the country to 12.56 million in the nine-month period, up from 11.69 million the previous year. PAL remained the market leader with 3.07 million international passengers in January to September 2012, up from 2.99 million 12 months prior. Cebu Pacific, for its part, ended September of 2012 with 2.03 million passengers, up from 1.82 million in January to September of 2011. SOURCE: http://business.inquirer.net/103567/airphil-express-eyes-flights-to-sabah

Found this at airliners.net, but the flights scheduled to start in April. TK resumes Kuala Lumpur 4x weekly on A340 effective April 25th. Mon/Wed/Thu/Sat TK060 IST-KUL 0115-1650 TK061 KUL-IST 2315-0535+1

I don't think there's any upgrading works done to the runaway, i maybe wrong though. But if i'm not mistaken the runaway could not be extended due to its location near residential areas, and A320 or B738 still couldn't land there. Found this http://ipoh.airport-authority.com/ . Not sure whether or not it's official website of the airport.

Some photos of the newly-renovated Ipoh Airport terminal in this blog. http://imagesofipoh.blogspot.com/

Malindo CEO dismisses talk of financial woesPosted on 10 January 2013 - 05:38am PETALING JAYA (Jan 10, 2013): Malindo Air, a new joint venture (JV) airline between Malaysia's National Aerospace & Defence Industries Sdn Bhd (NADI) and Indonesia's PT Lion Grup, has dismissed rumours it is facing financial difficulties. "We don't have any financial problem. As it is, we are in the process of recruiting cabin crews and pilots and are making preparations to start launching commercial flights tentatively in March this year," Malindo Airways Sdn Bhd CEO Chandran Ramamuthy told SunBiz via telephone yesterday. "We are also working to get an air operator's certificate to operate flights in Malaysia from the local aviation authorities." Chandran declined to reveal the airline's current financial standing, saying: "As a privately-held company, Malindo is not required to share financial information about itself." He was commenting on a report by OSK Research Sdn Bhd on Monday that rumours were circulating that Malindo's major shareholder, NADI was reluctant to pour more capital into its JV with Lion Grup, Malindo is a 51:49 joint venture between NADI and Lion Grup. "It was also reported that we were charging a fee for any new commercial pilot licence (CPL) holder to undergo specialised training to have a valid type rating on Boeing 737 aircraft, but it is industry standard for an airline to charge a fee. "To get a type rating, one has to undergo six months training and the cost of type ratings can be recovered by either (CPL holders) paying upfront or through sponsored agencies," said Chandran. A type rating is a licence to fly a certain aircraft type that requires additional training beyond the scope of the initial licence and aircraft class training. OSK had noted that Malindo charges a fee estimated at US$30,000 for the first 500 hours, for any new CPL holder with B737 NG type rating who is interested to become pilots as opposed to AirAsia Bhd's practice of bearing the cost of type ratings in exchange for a six-year bond. The research firm had reckoned that this could be a sign of Malindo and Lion Air facing some financial constraints, but Chandran said it's nothing like that. "We will commence operations with two aircraft in March and will progressively add more to reach 10 aircraft in the first year of operation. We will start flying out of the KL International Airport in Sepang, and would move to KLIA2 once the new terminal is up and running," he added. SOURCE: http://www.thesundaily.my/news/585318

hmm....I kept hearing this rumour about Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary might be interested in Malindo, so I guess there's some truth about this based on what you heard. Also heard that NADI wanted to acquire all MAS shares from Khazanah. Interesting times ahead.

It seems people prefer to fly with CX rather than AK.

Any insider news on Malindo? It's been so quiet lately after the big recruitment interview. They planned to start flying somewhere in March, and I think they should announce their destinations and open their booking by now.

KBR is not in their booking engine. That's strange. Has KBR been shelved in favor of PEN?

Based on this article, we might see Lao Airlines launching services to KLIA from February 9th 2013. Mekong airlines expand services December 19, 2012 by Rapeepat Mantanarat BANGKOK, 19 December 2012: Home-based and regional airlines expand services to and from Laos and Vietnam. The expansion sees airlines tapping the travel boom from China. The country is Vietnam’s top tourism supplier (+0.8% for 11 month period) and second for Laos (+40% for six-month period). In Vietnam, China Eastern will commence a Kunming-Danang route from 27 December with a twice-weekly service. China Southern Airlines, late November, launched twice-weekly scheduled charters on the Shenzhen – Danang route, its third destination in Vietnam. Vietnam’s national airline, Vietnam Airlines. on Monday added an extra weekly flight on the Hanoi-Kaohsiung route lifting frequency from three to four flights a week. Earlier in the month it also introduced a five-weekly service between Hanoi and Phu Quoc. Then from mid-April next year, it plans to add a third weekly flight on the Ho Chi Minh City-London Gatwick route. The London service from Hanoi will continue with two flights a week. Also in April, Vietnam Airlines will add a technical stop in Frankfurt in both directions for all London services. Lao Airline, effective 21 December, will launch three-weekly services from Vientiane to Seoul followed by Busan 30 December with three flights a week. On 9 February, it plans to a new service to Kuala Lumpur. The carrier launched a service to Guangzhou, 29 November and to Danang via Savannakhet and Pakse 4 December. From 17 January Chinese carrier, China Eastern Airlines,will commence twice weekly services from Kunming to Luang Prabang, its second route to Laos after Kunming-Vientiane. Korea’s low-cost carrier, Jin Air, will increase Seoul-Vientiane services from four to six flights weekly for the peak season, 22 December to 6 March 2013. SOURCE: http://www.ttrweekly.com/site/2012/12/mekong-airlines-expand-services/