Tom/PER

Noted -AFD in KCH today, still wearing its ‘Bo Rocks’ livery, did some digging and found out that it’s just re-entered service after being stored since 05/2021. Becomes the oldest active aircraft in the AK, she’s currently operating out of the KCH base.

Just been researching the new AK Perth flights and it appears the inaugural flight on Sunday will be operated by a 321N then A320N’s are scheduled, so forward bookings can’t be that fantastic. Did some further research and it appears these flights can only be operated by ETDO certified birds so it looks like AGA, E, G, H, I, J, L, N, O, Q, R, S, V, RAH, J and M + VAA and VAB are the only aircraft that‘ll be permitted to fly this new route. Just as a side note, I was surprised to be how many inactive and parked A320N’s AK currently has, including -NEO, guessing the lease costs are prohibitive on these frames.

The new AK604/605 KL-PER-KL service begins on 11/3 using A321N’s, it’ll be interesting to see how they handle delays/tech issues with just the current 2 x A321NEO’s in the fleet and whether they sub in EDTO A320N’s for a flight of that duration when unforeseen events occur.

As usual with the AirAsia group there’s lots of promises, spruiking and announcements, which seldom doesn’t seem to materialise into anything. Is there any timeframes when the next factory fresh frames will be actually be delivered to the group? I might be wrong here, but I believe the last factory fresh frame was delivered back in August 2019 and that was -RAT a A320CEO to AK.

-XXR has returned from heavy maintenance in Manila and is back hard at work, anyone know what livery she’s returned in?

Wow that’s a substantial difference in total seating between international and domestic configs on the ex PR A330’s!

I was doing some research on YouTube for some upcoming flights and was surprised to see that -MLF and -MLH have been reconfigured and now feature the new slimline seats as found on -MLJ. Does anyone know if -MLG and -MLI have also been done?

-XXW is back in service, operated an overnight flight down to Perth and she’s currently returning to KL as D7237.

Cheers JW, the Air Asia group fleet movements are fascinating to watch from afar. D7 in particular have gone from having a solid consistent product to a mish mash of interiors and configurations. I watched a recent YouTube video and those ex PR birds, still have Phillipine Airlines logo on the FA display screen near L1!

Does that leave just leave -XXC and -XXD parked at KL all wrapped up Bhai?

I would’ve thought Penang-Perth-Penang would be a higher priority than direct flights to KCH! Having just returned from Penang, the amount of pax that transferred onto the same connecting Scoot flight at Changi was noticeable. As a regular visitor to PG, there was plenty of Aussie tourists in Georgetown and Batu Ferringhi on this trip. Also, just out of interest what’s the current longest AK flight in terms of flight time?

Does D7 still have any A330’s which remained stored or in the process of undergoing reactivation?

https://www.travelnewsasia.com/news23/2111-AirAsiaMalaysia.shtml The new AK Perth flights will be operating in addition to the daily D7 flights. Is AK due to take delivery of any additional A321Neo’s soon?

JW, I thought -MXA has also undergone the interior refurb Bhai?

The oldest A333ceo is only 12 years old, whilst the newest -MTO has even celebrated her 10th birthday yet. These A333’s are barely at half-life and fulfil the regional (intra Asia routes) perfectly, hoping these remain in the fleet for those missions. Also as a side note -MTD hasn’t flown since 21 June, is this just maintenance related?