Tom/PER

I know we ran a thread a few years back when the MH A333’s was being reconfigured which was popular, so thought it prudent to start a new one for the MH 738 fleet which are currently undergoing cabin refurbishment from 16J/144Y = 160 seats to 12J/162Y for a total of 174 seats. The new seats are predominantly blue and feature: * Lighter, leaner and thinner seats which now incorporate device/literature holders and AC power + USB type A and C charging outlets. * IFE now streamed to your personal device through on-board Wi-Fi. * Seat pitch of 39 inches in J and 30 inches in Y. See below for some images I took recently on-board -MSA. Feel free to add frames once they are confirmed as refurbished, I’ll start the list off and confirm these 738’s are now completed, although sure there’s several more done. 9M-MLN, MSA, MXN and MXV. Business/J class Economy/Y class

I’m led to believe -MLI has been withdrawn from the MH fleet and is undergoing work in preparation of joining the FY fleet.

Will FY be getting any additional 738’s from the parent company to operate these new services or is there slack in the roster of their current fleet of 4? The email I received today, mentioned that the route would be operated by refurbished 189 seat 737-800’s, interesting it mentioned a specific seating configuration.

One of the aircraft I have followed for many years A320 9M-AQQ, which was the worlds first sharklet equipped A32x series plane, finally pinged on FR24 last night after nearly 2 1/2 years in hibernation and is now back flying in familiar airways. Good to see aircraft returning to the AK fleet, I should really use my gold membership and see where we’re up to with their fleet reactivations.

Brilliant informative post Julius, just one further question what happened to the 2 Thai AirAsia X A330-900’s HS-XJA and -XJB?

Cheers JW, I did some research and found that the AirAsia Group only have the following A333’s in active service: 9M-XBE, XBF, XXF, XXQ, XXR, XXU, XXZ HS-XTC, XTE, XTG, XTH, XTI 9M-XXR is up in Manila presumably undergoing maintenance and hopefully a repaint. Interestingly 9M-VVA has been parked for several months now at KL. 9M-XBE I believe us leased from BOC Aviation, is this the one in the odd high density configuration?

There’s still a number of stored/parked D7 A333’s parked at KL and other airports around the world, some of which are in Air Asia livery and configuration, I’m curious to know why these stored ones aren’t being put back into service first?

I think it often gets forgotten that MH’s A333’s aren’t actually that old, the first one -MTA is only a fraction over 11years old. The J product is only 6 years old and most of them have been repainted in the past 18months. They are the perfect workhorse for regional flights, it’s just a shame that the Y product is so dated compared to their closest competitor. The A332’s are a different story, but they were an opportune acquisition when they became available at short notice, with minimal expenditure on the interiors.

An evening/night departure from Singapore would definitely be welcomed, the only current option is an AK flight which leaves around 7-8pm. Aircraft No.4 -MLJ is painted in FY livery and presumably is still being reconfigured.

-XXU now back in service after being parked since February 2022.

https://flic.kr/p/2nNS9LW Credit to the original photographer. Looks like -LRL will be delivered in the same livery as -LRK. Once again there already so much inconsistency in the Batik/Malindo fleet.

Be interesting to see if 9M-LRL, M and P are reconfigured into a 2 class layout as they are currently listed as having a Y180 cabin, which I believe the recently delivered -LRK features. 9M-LRG, H and J are their only current flying 737-8’s which feature a 2 class C12Y150 cabin in addition to those 3 random 738’s they’ve retained.

Another new entrant into the Batik/Malindo fleet is B38M 9M-LRK which was ordered by Lion Air as PK-LQR but was ntu, so she’s a 3 year old factory fresh 737-8 flying around in a mostly all-white livery with the Y180 Lion Air cabin.

Looks like the controversially reconfigured -MXV has finally re-entered service this morning on a KL-TWU-KL rotation. Does anyone know what they ended up doing with the J class cabin/seats?

737-8 9M-LRQ ex PK-LQJ appears to of entered service this afternoon on a KL-KCH-KL rotation, believe she wears the full Batik livery same as the factory fresh examples.