Nik H.

Maybe I'm naive as I have limited understanding of all these rights issues and redeemable shares etc etc. My dealings are straightforward cash transactions with pricing based on cost and market price. While a small number of posts here are downright silly, and some do have good argument, but what is consistent is that the posts are always accompanied by spattering of insults, which are direct in nature, and a good chance this style will never be delivered on a face to face basis. Is it really necessary to start of your good argument that way? Your first sentence already says it all. Then you continued to make assumptions of what I think about the population of the forum. My posts listed out the MH declared financial outlook easily available to all. Discounting your assumption about my opinion, am I telling a lie? Are my bosses telling a lie to me and the other 16,000 employees of MH? If MH MD knows this, how far down the line do as well? And how does this benefit him and his team when he could easily get a better deal with Shell, his old company? If we remove the asset sale gains and Government travel contracts would the turnaround result in an even bigger loss? If you are right, how long can this hole be covered? When will this bubble of lies eventually burst? On the subject of Government travel, are you aware that the biggest bulk, ie the Military movements between East and West was residing with AK over the last 7 years? Chill man, I'm not your adversary here so you don't have to make assumptions of my opinion on this forum. Come to TT Friday and you'll see for yourself. ASSUME Making an ASS of U and ME

There will certainly be wrong moves in the process of business transformation. No plan is perfect. Somewhere something will be compromised. Even the admired one lost a widebody and a narrowbody in the last 10 years. There is only so many people the plan can appease. And after the major changes have borne fruit, I'm very sure the little big things will be attended to. Until such time, exercise your choice, and if eventually that is the choice of the majority, it will affect the bottom line, which will speak the loudest, and MH will have no choice but to revert to what the market wants, be it snekboks or sanwic.

Ok. Let's talk Financial health first. Finance is important because without money the Airline will plainly cease to exist, even with the newest aircraft and the best meals on board. Very Simplified. ( My highest acedemic qualification is Grade 1 MCE ) 2005 - Lost 1.3 Billion. ( Jan to Sep) At this rate MH would have RM0 cash by April 2006. Bailout would have been necessary at that stage to continue business. BTP1 was announced in Feb 2006 focusing on Financial Survival for 2006, Profit Generation 2007 and Sustainable Growth for 2008 and beyond. 2006 - Lost 136 million ( Oct to Sep) However the Airline Experts here has said very clearly that the profits came from sale of assets and bailout funds. Not entirely correct. ( Diplomacy at work) 1. There was no bailout, so concerned taxpayers need not worry. 2. Sale of Assets contributed RM375 million. This helped offset the one-off loss allocation ( OCT - DEC period ) of RM320million. The rest of the money that reduced the bleeding was from ; a. Revenue/Yield Improvements Yield 28% improvement from 20.5sen/RPK for 2005 to 26.3sen/RPK YTD 2007. Results; RM973 million for 2006, RM 1 Billion for 2007. One off gains from Asset sale not included. b. Network Improvements. This involves the cutting of unprofitable routes/ adding capacity to profitable ones, as well as the much criticized Hub and Spoke strategy. c. Productivity Improvements Manpower reduction by 15% d. Cost reduction RM665million through manpower productivity, inflight spending rationalisation, fuel efficiency, corporate sponsorship moritorium and other initiatives. 2007 - Made 610 million. ( target for 2007 - 50 million ) 2008- later la..... This is the MH Financial Blood trail; In Million of Ringgits; 86/87 RM112 87/88 RM151 88/89 RM154 89/90 RM222 90/91 RM288 91/92 RM111 92/93 RM144 93/94 RM7 94/95 RM261 95/96 RM233 96/97 RM319 97/98 RM260 Loss 98/99 RM700 Loss 99/00 RM259 Loss 00/01 RM417 Loss 01/02 RM836 Loss 02/03 RM337 03/04 RM461 04/05 RM326 Dec05 RM1.7 Billion Annualised Loss Dec06 RM136 Loss YTD 07 RM 610 for 9 months. New Aircraft Of great interest here is the plans for new aircraft. A 5 year plan has been designed and details will be revealed soon. Definitely there will be ; Fleet size growth Rationalised aircraft variety Density increase in EY for seat cost reduction. Fuel Efficien and more agile a/c type for Domestic ops To own rather than lease core fleet for easier path to upgrade/sell/purchase Tighten up a/c rollover transition Upgrade of interior in the short term. Order placement will be probably mid 2008. Tis is a very very simple outline for now. Is the time right for Smarter Management to replace the current Dinosaurs ( Dumbosaurus, Idioticaurus, Stupidoractyle etc...) so MH can be in better hands? Let the Brickbats/Criticism/Cynicism/Pessimism flow freely......

At Cadet stage, if a person shows signs of incompatibility to the job, its easier to just dump the person than to spend money and carry a potential defect, which may resurface later. After all, there are many more candidates to take over his place. Flying is about capability not charity.

Hmmmmmm. There's a syllabus that trains the Cabin Crew on how to deal with a 'Disruptive Pax'. Now there may have to be a section on what to do if the 'Disruptive Pax' is actually a Pilot..........

So far no one, not one gave any indication if they will be there. I will be there irregardless. Its my Smartcar hangout anyway. And usually Friday nite at Aman Suria is a meeting point for many Car groupies... the Supra Gang, the Fairlady Group, the Italian Car Fans, the Bimmer Boys, RX8 Owners, Skyliners, Scoobies and Evos, and many more motorheads.

You're right about the Hollywood bit. If any terrorist manages to secure a dirtybomb, they will not waste it on Malaysia, a non-threatening harmless country, so we should not flatter ourselves. Plenty other more attractive targets around the World.

A hostile act with the caravan needs to achieve maximum impact and any 'terrorist' worth his salt would have chosen a target that is important to deliver its mesage, ie Putrajaya, Twin Towers, Parliament House and the like. 20NM from Singapore would mean it'll be able to hit JB or Desaru, important, but hardly senstional in the grand scheme of things. Singapore, being smaller in land area than even Taman Negara, could be right to do the intercept. A caravan at 10,000ft over Singapore can reach almost any point of the island even with its engines shut down. As you inferred correctly, threat assessment is different and potential threat may be treated differently by RSAF and RMAF, chiefly due to the size of the country.

Much have been said here about how MH only made its turnaround on a bailout and sale of assets. In due time (sooner than you think) the actual story regarding this will be made known. By the way, for what's its worth, MH managed to maintain its 5 star status by the skin of its teeth today. More will be revealed soon, together with the BTP, but I'll let the newspapers be the carrier of that piece. Then I'll wait for expert opinion to peel it layer by layer by the 'usual suspects' here. Sorry, posted this here; http://www.malaysianwings.com/forum/index....ic=7791&hl=

Should have posted this here; http://www.malaysianwings.com/forum/index....ic=7795&hl=

Much have been said here about how MH only made its turnaround on a bailout and sale of assets. In due time (sooner than you think) the actual story regarding this will be made known. By the way, for what's its worth, MH managed to maintain its 5 star status by the skin of its teeth today. More will be revealed soon, together with the BTP, but I'll let the newspapers be the carrier of that piece. Then I'll wait for expert opinion to peel it layer by layer by the 'usual suspects' here.

RMAF Radar would pick it up the moment it enters Malaysian Airspace. It would have probably overfly the vicinity of Gong Kedak and Kuantan. At best the Caravan can fly at 170 - 200 knots. That's 3 nautical miles a minute. It will probably be cruising at 8-10,000ft, as it is unpressurised. The RMAF can scramble a MIG/Sukhoi/F18 and do an intercept within 5 minutes of any short notice West turn. which means the Caravan would be intercepted after covering just 20 nautical miles on its changed heading. It will not even get past Temerloh. Missiles would not even need to be deployed to blow it out of the sky, just a couple of rounds from a machine gun will do. So i don't think it'd be much of an issue there. I think the RMAF's got its base covered in this case.

Great Shots...... especially of the DC3. And thanks for the shot of the Duke with the Raisbeck conversion, indeed a rare bird. Then there's the Cessna Cutlass RG, a retractable version of the C172, another rare machine. No Tomahawk in Jandakot?

I have 'Ahmad' in my passport but I had no issue with getting a Visa at the US Embassy in KUL. None in my brothers' family had any problems. Neither did any of us had any problem throughout our stay in the US. Back to topic; The Caravan, upon entering Malaysian Airspace would have been in contact with Malaysian ATC. It may be flying VFR and hence, permitted to file an airborne flight plan. So to imply that our local people and authorities were unaware may not be entirely inaccurate. You kinda need to be flying around i the front seat of an aeroplane, preferably both local and international, in VFR and IFR airspace to understand the situation better.

If RMAF wanted to intercept the Caravan, Hawks would be more than enough. Anything more would be 'overkill'.

They actually had a Dash 8 in MYY for a few months.

I think there's more to it than just flying to US out of SZB. Perhaps we may not see any MDs anymore...but what do i know about the industry

I used to call Airbus 330 the Scarebus 330. Now I call my Triple 7 the Cripple 7. He he.

Please do that and I'll share with you things that can only be shred on a face to face basis.

Dr Naim, thanks for the map. Here's a pix of a typical Friday night TT at Kayu Aman Suria. The SmartCars belongs to the SmartCarMalaysia website forummers ( I'm a mod for the site) and we meet every Friday there. This particular night however I rode my bike. I'll be happy host a TT there for MW ' Friends of MAS' . It will be an opportunity to match the personalities to the posts. Who knows, given all the big talk about how to correct MH woes, this may be a start of BIG changes for our BELOVED National Airline that has been 'run to the ground by the current management'. But for that to happen, you MUST first turn up. I'm sure I'll learn something from you. At the very least, I'll definitely learn something about you. Maybe you'll also learn there is actually a lot more to life than just MH bashing. So Friday Feb 1st next week then. I''ll be there. And I'm easy to spot. Aman Suria Friday Nights.....

Its a realistic view I'm stating after almost 30 years here. And don' confuse a realistic observation as a personal conviction.Still no one for a face to face? TT will be on me. I've got a good venue...kayu Nasi Kandar Aman Suria PJ next Friday after 9pm.

Very True. Since the Caravan is flying over the East Coast, the only threat will be if the plane flies into some wooden fishing huts or into the Tioman resort. Our military does not get unduly excited over things like this. Do recall, even with the best technology, highly trained and motivated crew, being trigger happy has caused the death of civilians. The Israelis shooting a Civilian B707 near Port Said was one. Then the Mighty US downing an Iranian A300 over the Straits of Hormuz. Both killed everyone on board. Post shooting responses ...ooooops sorry. The RMAF has just saved some taxpayers money. I wonder what kind of posts will be posted here if the RMAF threw a couple of Sukhois to chase the Cessna of force land it. Its nice to be a Malaysian when travelling, being a simple non threatening country we are always welcome everywhere.

MH is invincible, I agree. Being the National Airline, it cannot and must not fail irregardless of who leads it. The Management is not. They CAN be booted out quite easily. The Airline and the Management is not quite the same thing. If the current Management is booted out, and new Management steps in, MH will still run. Whether better or worse I can't say. So its prudent to arrange the words properly when criticising because as posted by Dr Naim, there is indeed a fine line between constructive criticism and plain bashing. In this and any forum, everyone gets an equal chance to post, and grand schemes can come from a 17 year old (whose only income comes from parents and has yet to pay a single cent of tax) about Airline Management to professionals like Engineers and Doctors. Its surprising how alike the suggestions can be. Anyway, about my offer; a. Head of Charter Job : ZERO application with 6 days to go. b. Teh Tarik MH Bashing/Constructive Criticism Session : Only Izanee so far although with him being in UK I see that happening only when he comes back. Teh Tarik can be fixed on the following days a. Wednesdays - coincide with my weekly TT sesion with my Superbike friends b. Fridays - coincide with my weekly Two Seater Car Buddies. Both venues PJ. Still waiting.

Politically correct answer not worth the time. True story will piss off some people. This is after all an enthusiasts' site, not a site out to prove a point nor make a statement. About the statement, I too am BLUR....

True. To fly from Malaysia to Malaysia ( East to West VV) a Malaysia aircraft goes under Singapore Control as soon as its between Pekan to near Sabah or Sarawak. Singapore controls the entire bit of lower South China Sea and can see all the bits in the region that they don't control. An aircraft flying over the South China Sea between East and West Malaysia from Manila to Jogjakarta need not talk to Malaysia but has to talk to Singapore. How come....? Long story.