N Azman

id like to believe the times of good businessmen are not completely gone to wily class-less gangsters. end of the day, like good businessmen, we never burn bridges, not even with our competitors. you never know who might take you over one day. Youre quite right. in fact, herb kelleher is recognized as one of the finest gentlemen in the industry. so don't expand MRO or any other subsidiary unless operating pax business achieves desired margin? way off court. in the full svc carrier world, ancillary businesses are there precisely to AID the margins thru synergies of business. you're right about one thing tho. MH do need to increase margin. but thats purely in pax business. are you convinced their other businesses are not making money or the wrong margin too?

most likely because he finds the call center is getting a higher percentage of complain calls as opposed to actual sales calls. bold move. wonder what happens to the now redundant staff of the call center.

livery is not about swinging customer decision. its about getting people talking. its about getting the image in their minds for whatever reasons. its about appearing in pics and blogs and the subsequent free advertising all over. same goes for airlines bearing classic 70s liveries. all for the same reasons. once its etched in your heads (sometimes even subconciously) , THEN comes the pricing and the onboard product consideration. looking at your comments above, id say MH has done a good job creating the buzz. So who cares if its boring? once the buzz is gone, change again lah.

"Its all about focus and discipline, mas has so many brands" Obviously he has not heard of Lufthansa group and its subsequent brands....e.g. dolomiti, germanwings, LH Technik, LH Consulting etc. But then, i don't expect much knowledge beyond the LCC world from him, much less class and manners.

Yep no doubt MH is not in its optimum state. I would say these margin figures would be the one to target. thanks for the quick research.

Yes, MH very nearly scraped past positive margin. but the above comparison is wrong. At the same ASK, the LCC makes much higher margin compared to a FSC. No airline in the world even SQ or LH can make the airasia margin, its just the rules of business. Maybe compare with SQ figures then you'll have a realistic figure of what MH margins should be.

Spot on. Don't like, don't follow him? i disagree. everyone in aviation should follow TF. learn from his genius and follies, and call on his bs. 1) and? i thought we were discussing CEO tweets? yes the airlines do reply to complaints and make announcement in tandem with the other media channels like tv, radio, papers. 2) thanks for the added info! i stand corrected. sigh. when i say its irrelevant, i was referring to your 'classy' comment lar bro. not irrelevant to airline strategy. of course lar its a matter of strategy. hence cannot compare lar one CEO bad for tweeting less, one CEO good for tweeting more(crap). see? even though you and me travelled a long way..but finally we've reached an agreement. its all about business strategy and target market. not classyness, tweet speed per minute or general responsiveness of CEO on twitter.

I see some of your point, but holddd your horses, we'll have to agree to disagree! 1) what commitment? is there a contract that says you'll twit x/hr or else we'll kick you off twitter? OK maybe unofficial is the wrong word but lets try this : INFORMAL. why i say INFORMAL is that things that are NOT done on twitter are : 1) Quarterly results 2) press conferences 3) COMPLAINT RESPONSE 4) major announcements 5) etc etc any official matter. Sure, one is more muted than the other. But most of tony's tweets is 'tak boleh pakai' to the Joe Traveling Public anyway like "Heikki is in the car" "Jarno rocks at golf" "Proton Sucks" and so on...nothing to do with Airasia pax and NEITHER is it FORMAL. It boils down to time spent on personal twitter accounts. Chillax, its only twitter. 2) CEO CAN be sued by airlines if they reveal confidential info youre exactly spot on. But when have they done that? give me one example and id be glad to give you VK Lingam's number. 3) haiyaaa captain obvious of course lar brader we dont care about air zimbabwe but i bet !Bile from Harare cares. I'm merely comparing CEO to CEO. Your comparison to chew choon seng is interesting. because apparently you say they are classy. KLM have one of the best social media team in the world so does that mean they are the unclassiest? the answer is : irrelevant. cos at the end of the day, its just twitter lah brader. it may be the CEO's OFFICIAL twitter account, but its informal. got time, and love to twit? then you twit more!

Interestingly, i was at an aviation forum a number of years back and it was suggested that a camera be placed facing the back of the pilot and co pilot with the windshield being in the background. This is then, viewable via IFE. A pilot then said what about privacy. The argument is, bus/taxi/train(some) drivers operate with complete transparency, why shouldn't you? pros : 1) fun entertainment 2) get to see professional pilots in action 3) to mitigate any pilots who decides to have his kids fly the plane, any pilots with suicidal tendencies, etc (at least theyre at full view of the crowd, who can alert the IFS to open the door) 4) encourage professional behaviour at the work place (no playing nintendo DS, no disturbing cabin crew, etc) and improve customer confidence/respect 5) of course, post 9/11, pax want to see who's in charge in front and how're they behaving cons : 1) poor guys, have no more privacy. difficult to korek hidung. 2) some normal pilots actions might be misintepreted as 'bad'. reading chart might be seen as not paying attention to the 'road'. 3) terrorist might learn how to fly the plane? - an actual comment from a forum participant. 1 guess to which country this guy came from. 4) any more?

As always, youve seen me attack TF like nobody's business, but that doesnt mean im completely supporting the other side either. But in response to your statement : Again we go back to the point: 1) It's not the CEO's job to give you market updates and feedback every complaint. It is however the prerogative of the airline to response, but definitely not through twitter. 2) Twitter serves as an avenue to communicate between CEO and Joe Public which has never existed before. That said, this is NOT the proper or the official channel for complaints. It is however, a way for Joe Public to directly relay their thoughts to MD and I was told both TF and TA dilligently read tweets directed to them. Some are replied directly, some are fwded to their staff for action. 3) Once in a blue moon? Refer back to point no.1 that i mentioned above. Richard Branson tweets what...once a month? does that make him a bad CEO? Its a matter of who has more time to open up their ipads and such for twitter.

This is a complete lie. I was there in Thailand as an AK customer. Nothing but a refunded ticket. I had reached KL via ground/air by the time the first AK rescue flight arrived U Tapao.

Flee is so positive. I like flee. Me on the other hand, not so. I tend to have higher expectations from a man of CEO stature. I see conflicting info, contradictory statements, personal attacks, childish sarcasm and unnecessary disclosure of info from this particular man hence that drives my opinion of him. CEOs are not 16 year old teenage girls on myspace. Sure you can tweet, but like presidents and prime ministers you carry the name and reputation of a company with each tweet you make. and with that comes thousands of employees and also the shareholders. Your stability reflects on your ability to keep your company stable. Hence he should not be subject to normal "human" rules like the ability to flip out every once in a while. "Paid tha cost to be tha boss" - Snoop dogg

He's trying to follow Michael O'Leary's approach to media and publicity. but unfortunately he lacks the balls that MOL possess in the follow-thru. TF has acted all gung ho only to reverse it a few days later or to suddenly become silent. MOL have no intention of being a national hero..he just wants to sell seats hence he'll f**k everyone who stands in the way. TF on the other hand, wants to be both the jerkoff and the hero, which does not work. Makes him look stupid or childish sometimes really. I wouldve enjoyed MOL type of banter and character here.

What a tasteless comment by TF. Exactly what FY and Eddy wanted, and he walked straight into it. Next he'll be calling EL and TA names. I remember Azran mocking TA after a radio interview in which TA revealed his fav songs. Birds of a feather do flock together.

airasia topic sucks. can we change this topic to "sideswapping undies and travelling light"? another tip. large overcoat have large pockets. in those pockets can go many misc items (as long as legal) that will save u space in the 'case

don't be captain literal ler...id imagine theres a difference between positive or negative feedback vs plain offensive content. for instance...."can you replace the orange juice please? the pulps are making me constipate" would probably survive the moderator's cut. but "f#$k !@#$@ airlines serve drink on f!$!ing hand and not use tray !#$!$ wtf do you think crossin my way?" would probably be deemed offensive.

Lock SH, Amongst the younger gccl travelers the velcro seat is more known as the 'wedgie' seat for the obvious reasons.so maybe don't wear underwear during long trips... Mushrif, you're referring to the new cx gccl due to launch in summer? I'd be pretty impressed if you've tried it! Tried googling but all I can find is the herringbone one. Btw, half inside private is = half jutting out lehh. Sama la what we r saying. Hahahaha Offtopic again.

The new one IS the narrow one. Herringbone config where you can't even fit a book on your sides, there's nowhere to put newspaper, and also half your body juts out into the 'unprivate' open space. Also, big screen TV looks good in pictures, but when it's THAT close to your eyes (when folded out), you tend to get headaches on cross continent flights. Which is why i asked la. have u tried it or not. 8 out of 10 i know dont really like it.

Have you actually flown in CX's business class? I'm very surprised with this statement. Majority (except CX staff) of the corporate travelers i know would agree with me.

wow. ministry bans 737-900ER landing on wet runway. watch out for competitors disguised in angkasapura land rovers pouring buckets of water on the runway

Josh T, your loyalty is admirable. MH staff in AU should contact you personally to book your flights.

i smell oasis hong kong

what was the topic again? hahaahaha Maybe i need to lay off the coffee and LSD

not too worried, worry less, not worried, tomayto toMAto. these are semantics. If you're implying MH or any org (be it GLC or LLC or whatever) worry less about making money then maybe you're looking a bit to the past. my only observation is that the picture often painted about AK/D7 is that they are the poor souls who had to fight everything and are honest listeners, bearers of the people's seals! And they are the only ones who have to fight day by day for survival. well boo f-ing hoo. Everyone else is fighting also and you only need to spend some time with KLM CX SQ RBA MH (all state-linked companies) to know how much fighting these guys have to do to stay alive (or in SQ CX's case, to maximise shareholder returns). not only that, they've had to deal with meddling from unscrupulous parties whilst AK/D7 can freely run their so called 'tight ship'. Look at how quickly they pulled in and out of routes. No other state-linked airlines have the luxury to do so. And ORY is not a pioneering route btw. Neither is STN. Neither is HND. AUH is, but they muffed that one.

I suppose yes and no, depending on which route youre referring to. I don't believe the 739 can make the 6-9 hour radius destinations....and also, you're short by about 80 seats. In the case of your employer Radzi if youre referring to A333 flights to CGK and DPS, then i would say yes the 739 would be perfect for these.