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Mohd. Helmi

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Everything posted by Mohd. Helmi

  1. Seriously?? You're citing BP? They have exited many of their businesses in the region! Sold their Singapore and Malaysian downstream business many years ago. They have exited more countries now trying to pay for their incompetence in the gulf of Mexico, so it's a good thing that they aren't operating in a big way in Malaysia. Anyway, even in the financial industry, RBS also exited, sold their whole asia-pac business to Malaysian Bank CIMB, all thanks to the widening european banking crisis, being bailed out by the british tax payer I believe. Its fair to say British dominance in industries, trade and commerce is not as important as what it used to be. With barely a pulse for GDP growth, 0.3% in Q1 this year, and 18+ months of broadly flat growth or recessions. Malaysian investments in the UK probably is more important these days, BatterSea redevelopment, LOTUS cars, Caterham, Genting Casinos etc by Malaysian conglomerates and companies, chances are these guys would fly Malaysia Airlines than BA. As nice as seeing BA back, it's not going to happen. But not because of BP... Or Poor of British Malaysia trade ties, in fact trade ties are great, unfortunately trade ties are overwhelmingly in favor of Malaysia, rather than Britain.
  2. ASIA Malaysia PEN SZB KUL JHB KCH BKI LGK Thailand BKK Singapore SIN Indonesia BTH CGK Brunei BWN China HKG TPE Korea ICN Australia BNE OOL CBR SYD EUROPE AMS VIE FRA BUD ZRH ZAG SJJ THE MIDDLE EAST DXB
  3. UPDATE Malaysia Airlines DC10-40/737-400/500/747-400/777-200 Air Asia A320 Singapore Airlines 757/777-200 Royal Brunei 767-300 Japan Airlines 747 Qantas 747-400/767-300 Virgin Blue 737-700/800 KLM 747-400M Austrian 777-200/A321 Austrian Wings Q400 Tyrolean Q400 Lauda Air 737 Malev Hungarian Airlines 737/CRJ Croatia Airlines 737-200 Lufthansa 747-400 NEW airlines and airliners to add is Thai Airways 777-300/200 Asiana Airlines B777-200 Cathay Pacific B777-200/B747-400/A330-300 Air Asia X A330-300 Malaysia Airlines A330-300 Firefly ATR 72-500
  4. I'm waiting for D7 Flights to Soul Town! Still no official announcement! When? Oh... When?? On a side note, MH has increased their offerings to Seoul, flying daily from mid July, in anticipation of D7 perhaps? MH adds frequency to Seoul
  5. Perhaps if they get the 737-400's these might not be based in Malaysia? I found something quite interesting, Firefly Indonesia? . Seems like Firefly is applying for an AOC in Indonesia to start Firefly Indonesia operations, this is if my Bahasa Indonesian is correct. Seems like they're taking a lesson from AK and JQ in expanding regionally. Though, I'm quite skeptical on legacy carriers trying out the LCC business. I believe they should just focus their attention and resources on their mainline operations, mainline carriers trying their hands at LCC's can end badly, Delta's Song comes to mind. However, that said, if the operations were left truly alone and independent, mainline LCC subsidiaries can thrive, examples that come to mind Transavia, Jetstar, Bmibaby, but this is where it is important, they need to have independence in operations, making business decisions and not ones forced on it by big brother. Examples of managerial independence, look at Jetstar and BMIBaby, QF didn't shove JQ with leftovers of their retired ageing Boeing fleet, JQ went with all new Airbus A320's, whilst QF went with new 737's. Similarly look at BMI, it'a LCC BMIBaby operates 737's, whilst it's mainline BMI operates A320's. It is a business decision, and it should always be so. Likewise, FY should be left to make it's own business decisions and not follow some directive from some dato out at MAS or PMB, perhaps not knowing what to do with their retired MAS planes that they bought with tax payer money during the WAU exercise.
  6. Same here, looking forward to Korea, was there only a few months ago, I find Koreans to be very friendly! Usually MH has pretty high fares, compared to CX, TG, CA to Seoul. AirAsia X flying to Korea would not only mean more competition and thus lower fares for consumers, but also at least keep more money in Malaysia, luring back price sensitive fellow Malaysians currently flying foreign carriers, catering to the growing student and tourist traffic. It'll be good for business too, due to more connections and timing with more flights. I think the article posted nailed it, "Both should be given equal chances to operate any route that they want so that they can work towards building Malaysia as a hub, bringing in tourists and tourism dollars instead of allowing Bangkok and Singapore to get the better of us with their wider linkages. The irony of it all is that Malaysia goes all out to get foreign carriers to fly out of KL International Airport and that means our carriers, be it MAS, AirAsia or AAX, have to compete with these carriers but here AAX is still struggling to get core routes and has to be satisfied with secondary points." Don't protect MH, they've been protected, mollycoddled, bailed out long enough. Let AAX fly where ever they want. If MH is incapable to compete with them to SYD and ICN then so be it, their incompetence should not be at the expense of anyone else, taxpayers, another Malaysian carrier, tourist dollars. It's utter sillyness to prevent AAX flying to ICN or SYD.
  7. Apa ni? Was this sarcasm at my comment? I don't care for LED, incandescent lights, fluorescent lights, whatever lights. But the "fairy lights" also known as christmas lights...I'm talking about the blue ones that are found at KLIA satellite, near the aerotrain stop, adjacent to the MAS lounge, it looks really out of place and in my view very tacky! Azizul, I believe this is your photo. (hope it's ok for me to use it) Anyways if you stand close to the pillars waiting for the aerotrain, look up, you can see the exposed wiring. Tacky tacky tacky tacky!!! They could have used that space with an art installation, something colorfully aviation themed, or used blue spot lights to shine on a floating suspended sculpture. Anything would have been better than hanging a bunch of fairy lights from 4 posts. It looks cheap! MAHB spent millions on a very artsy, nice looking office building, they could have done something a lot better than these lights. Either someone was not bothered, or this is the best they can come up with?
  8. I agree, I too went through Seoul recently. Extremely efficient, immigration was great, airport itself was great! But, very tough call between SIN. I still like SIN better. Time for MAHB to bring it up a notch. KLIA feels like its getting worse instead of better. I think the blue fairy lights at the satellite terminal looks cheap, like wise the fairy lights at the MTB departure halls. And What is with the tacky batik inspired green plate covers at the check in desks? Yuck! They made it worse! There's chipped concrete at the parking B lot, broken tiles and the toilets at the car park smells worse than toilets in puduraya. The lights and barriers on the road when you turn in after departure to the car park is broken and has been for a long time. Then there's the Singapore Shuttle signboard at KLIA still there, years after the MH/SQ shuttle service stopped operating. ARGH!! so much potential, ruined !!!
  9. I don't believe D7 is to complement MAS like MI for SQ. Silk Air is apart of the SIA group, it does not compete, it colludes, it shares certain routes with SQ and flies to thinner regional routes that SQ doesn't fly to. D7 and AK is in direct competition to MH. In that sense D7 and AK tries to find where they have the edge, which is usually at cost, this means flying to routes that MH flies to or flying to routes MH can't make it work. Air Asia is trying Calcutta when MAS has tried repeatedly to make that work. D7 caters to the pent up demand for a cheaper fare than MH. Remember MH likes flying their old dirty A330's to India, which is completely inferior to the new products offered by D7, (I'm probably gonna get flamed for saying for this). Also what are the kind of fliers that fly to Malaysia from India? It is the airline that needs to develop the market? I think that's not really the case. One reason why I think SIN and SQ has been a lot more successful than MH is because of their home base. Singapore is the region's financial capital, also a lot of MNCs have their regional HQ based there, it attracts the front end high yield customers. Which is why for the same reason, no matter how much resources the Brunei govt throws at its airline, it will drain more money, an airline largely devoid of front end passengers, only tourists, backpackers and students. So, my point is that an airline can as hard as it wants try to develop the market, at the end of the day it is depends on market sustainability. Your example, the student and tourist groups between Russia and Malaysia, is exactly this case, its devoid of the front end passengers, it will not make much money for airlines because these travelers only look for the bargain basement fares (SQ does Russia by tying it to their flights to Houston, thereby getting the front end Oil money). There is a large enough market anywhere, heck, there's a market to Zagreb from the Croatian diaspora in Australia, but as much as MH tried to develop ZAG in the late 90's, the kind of passengers and the fares they want to pay was the problem. Many international routes to KUL remain a problem because of the type of passengers. It doesn't attract the money making front end types, because at the end of the day KUL is an only so-so business destination. how many have they developed on their own? Hmmm, Plenty, Bandar Aceh, Solo, Thiruchiapalli, Kochi, Triavandrum, Bandung, Vientiane, Makassar, Guilin... From the top of my head... but plenty more I'm sure. Because like I said before there's large enough market anywhere, its just a matter for these cities if AK can make it work. What about the competition factor in AUH? AUH has EY,which has daily flights into KUL with numerous onward connections. I don't know what market D7 was going for, can't really see gulf Arabs, choosing D7 over EY or nearby EK via DXB.
  10. Agreed, if it wasn't for the company paying for full fare MH flights for work related travel, I'd think twice about reactivating Enrich. Its a shame since I've missed out on the points for this year's travel. Especially with all the promos that could have been had. Looks like more needs to be done.
  11. None taken. Looks like things have improved, was using Enrich when I was studying abroad, this was back in 01, so gosh that was 8 years ago, remember those MH blue and yellow, buynfly cards introduced back in 99, then converted and absorbed to Enrich FFPs, I was with them back then. Yes, back then presenting my Enrich card at check in, I still didn't get my miles accrued. Emails were unanswered! Heck, I'm still awaiting reply to emails to MH sent back in 97. Glad to know there has been some improvements. Not Sure really, but Dad being H.E. the appointed Ambassador of our country posted at an overseas diplomatic Mission, really does fly a lot. Will ask Dad when he's coming back in a few weeks for our family hols. Currently Mom and Sis are over there visiting Dad, let's just put it this way, other carriers have been far more lenient with excess baggage to my family than our own flag carrier, pros and cons to that. Ok, point taken, but the Enrich member would feel a lot more special amongst the non enrich cretins and philistines boarding the aircraft, especially if he was reminded how special he was during boarding, trumpeted by an invite at how he can board the plane first or whenever he feels like.
  12. I like the MH livery. it is a beautiful classic, but perhaps it needs some very subtle and minor tweaks here and there, example, make the "Malaysia" font bigger on the A330 fuselage. Changing the livery might not end up being a good thing. Lest we forget the artistic competencies of MH in introducing the famed smarties seats.
  13. I too have abandoned Enrich (due to lack of crediting miles, unanswered emails), but joined LH's Miles and More, since I'm not the biggest fan of SQ. Anyway, the experience has been completely wunderbar! Miles always credited, even when flying Star Alliance carriers, which in our region means TG and SQ. I stopped flying MH for a long time, a near blanket boycott except that the company puts me on MH for domestic flights, perhaps that will change since now AK has been approved for company travel. 2 months ago, at check-in in KUL I was moved to an MH flight even though I paid for CX, I was traveling CX to connect in HK, hmm... overbooking I suspect ex-KUL, things however have changed at MH on that flight to HK, (my first international flight on MH for many years), the in-flight experience was worse (that's a different story)! My dad besides being a frequent flier, a few months ago was flying full fare golden club class internationally had a rude MH ground staff asking him to pay excess baggage for being just a few kgs over weight (< 5kgs If I remembered correctly). I've been overweight by accident a few times on QF, TG, CX, SQ, OS, KL, I apologized, they were all nice about it and not once did they ask me to pay, So what good did it do for my father to be apart of Enrich, being loyal to MH, habbitually checks in early and as far as memory serves me prior to that incident never has excess baggage. He encountered rude treatment by MH ground staff, despite his Enrich tiered membership! Yes MH, you can be anal with excess baggage, milk every passenger for the few extra kgs, but it won't win you brownie points, It's just cheap! Regarding Enrich however, in my opinion many things need to change, how about priority boarding for Tiered Enrich members?? They call out families to board first, boarding by rows etc but not Enrich members, FFPs are supposed to create loyalty, treatment better than non members, flying MH, you don't get a sense that's happening. Shock horror, I used MH to holiday in Langkawi recently on my own hard earned money because they were cheaper than AK. And that's where I see MH now, I use them for cheap flights, the alternative cheaper option. Last year I redeemed my LH miles to book a flight to Bangkok, booked for my family to join me later with MH because they were cheap. The discounts and promotions by Enrich to me reinforced the sense of cheapness of the whole MH experience. (the LCC style buntings at international airports promoting everyday low fares in cheap LCC colors and font next to check in desks was a serious mistake). There's nothing wrong with being Cheap, I agree it has it's place, but it makes the Enrich card and program feels nothing more than a glorified discount card, especially with these Enrich promotions lately, fishing people to bait at their bargains, blue buntings with "everyday low fares" don't help. To me it's akin to Mydin promoting their latest cheap cucumber offering at RM 0.99 per kg. Undoubtedly there will be a lot of takers for such an offer too good to refuse. If that's the MH angle, I'm fine with it, I too like many others love bargains, but if MH really wants to put tangible rewarding value to Enrich besides the cheapness factor, they need to treat Enrich fliers better (read being nicer at check-in, crediting miles on time and giving members priority boarding), get more Enrich partner airlines so we can credit miles outside of the limited MH network and frequency (would be great if they were a part of an alliance). Anyways, I'm a bargain hunter, so, I think I too, will get back on the MH Enrich bandwagon again, Question though, can I reactivate my years old dormant Enrich account, or would i need to reapply?
  14. AS much as I'm an aviation fan, I think this is such a waste of MONEY! Your money and my money! the current runway can accommodate commuter planes comfortably, which is the only type of traffic going into ipoh, the traffic currently comes from ATRs and Fokkers. It's already an underutilized airport, Mas and Air Asia stopped serving it, and now they're expanding the terminal and runway?? For what??? For whom??? the demand isn't there to warrant spending millions. There's the NS Expressway, soon there's the fast KTM trains to ipoh, I don't see future demand increasing. Millions could be better spent, helping out KTM overhauling and buying new EMU's for their Klang Valley service. Could be better spent on Ipoh's public transport. Atleast more people will benefit from the RM120 Mil investment.
  15. Disagree, it's not declaring war on one, is to fight the whole pack like you said. FPDA, is not like the Anglo-Malayan defence agreement (AMDA) that it replaced, which guarantees that the UK/NZ/Aus will come to protect us, which they did during the Indo confrontation, communist insurgency. The FPDA did not impose any "undue strain or obligation on any party". The only upshot was the FPDA: a set of arrangements, obliged all parties to immediately consult each other in the event of any external aggression or threat of attack against either Malaysia or Singapore "for the purpose of deciding what measures should be taken jointly or separately in relation to such an attack or threat". These arrangements stood in "sharp contrast to the defence guarantees that AMDA embodied" So it's just consultations between the parties not legally binding to act in defense of, but why the FPDA remains relevant even after the cold war, megalomaniac Sukarno and in these modern times is because it does provide joint training, technical expertise sharing amongst the countries. I believe RMAF Butterworth still has RAAF, RAF and RSAF personnel there. The RAAF used to have 2 fighter squadrons stationed at Butterworth. At the end of the day, we've got to protect ourselves.. I however suggest we have a stronger defense agreement, with guarantees like the AMDA, we should have it with Singapore. We do so much business with each other, blood ties, we should be best of friends.. have a "special relationship" like the brits have with the yanks. FPDA does cover East Malaysia, since last I checked, Sabah and Sarawak were an integral part of our country. Brunei Armed Forces, hmm.. think we should leave the Sultan alone with his little fiefdom.
  16. thanks for this.. That's still quite surprising, considering that they still have A LOT of planes on order. AK dominance of KLIA is only a matter of time I think.
  17. Why would Pas youth make a big deal over the Oakland Raiders?
  18. The AirAsia group could easily become larger than MAS in terms of fleet with this order. 175 A320 for AirAsia (I know it's split between the Thai and Indo associates but it was AK that placed the order), 25 A330 and now 25 A350 for AirAsiaX. I think AK already has more of the A320 stationed in Malaysia than MH with their B737. Now if this order does go through D7's long haul fleet would also be larger than MH in terms of number of frames. Profitability, AirAsia possibly triumphs over MAS. AK reported profits going up 26% compared to Q1 last year. Could it also be that AK might be the largest airline out of KLIA? I can't find the break down of figures from MAHB but the other day, I read in Forbes that "AirAsia accounted for 44 percent of passenger traffic at Malaysia's main airport during the quarter." http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/05/28/ap6474025.html Tony Fernandes was previously quoted saying "it is my goal that we, AirAsia, become bigger than Singapore Airlines and carry more passengers.” In my opinion, it might come true, I think he's on track.
  19. For sure and thanks, I've got to try out Firefly's service to Singapore, Murtabak seems like a good reason.
  20. Yup, that's the one.. Zam Zam. Is it still there? Sometime ago, I would tahpau the Murtabak and bring it back to KL, just to show the KL folks what a real Murtabak looks like! Very Delicious! Though not as fresh for my KL friends after 3hrs in the car.
  21. you can read the words "proud sponsor of the oakland raiders"... hmmmm.. ?
  22. Ahh so it's nostalgia, I thought Melaka's development was strongly catered to and influenced by Singaporeans, I was told of this one case of a little pre-war shop near Jonker that was bought by a Singaporean, he didn't just gut it down but demolished it to make way for some new cafe or something, heard the state took legal action against this enterprising and history wrecking Singaporean. Ironic how nostalgic Singaporeans can also bring the demise of their own nostalgia through the might of your SGD. About the food, my mom's a Melakan, she says food was better back in the day when she was growing up, it's gone downhill recently. Penang is the last bastion of good food, well that's coming from my Dad who is a Penangite, hence i guess there's a bias. IMO Food in Singapore isn't all that bad, the 2 shops opposite Masjid Sultan, forgot their names, make wonderful Murtabak, beats any Murtabak that I've been able to find in Malaysia. Also don't worry, I doubt Melaka wouldn't even become anything close to what happened to your Chinatown, simply because we don't have an easy SGD100mil around that the Singapore Gahmen spent some decades back to create your artificiality by "revitalizing" or as I would say "remove the character" of Chinatown. Anyway, as a Malaysian, it's a nice change to see a cleaner, less livelier, less lived in, well painted buildings as found in the Chinatown and all the other heritage areas of Singapore.
  23. Well there is Riau Airlines. Pekanbaru - Melaka flights, that's an international flight. I guess it's competing against the Melaka - Dumai ferry service. MKZ - SIN would be competing against buses and cars, tougher battle. Especially since Singaporean drivers love to test out their vehicles on our expressways, where else are they supposed to do it AYE, PIE, East Coast Parkway? . I think PEN flights might work. I disagree, Batu Berendam and town is not that far, 15mins driving if you know which roads to take. Not far, from the scale of things in Malaysia, I think PEN is further to George towrtn and also many other airpos, need I mention our 70+ kms from KLIA to KL. One thing MKZ does not have going for it is a convenient form of public transport to town. It might be faster to drive from SG than arrive in MKZ and wait for a bus to town, but that's a reflection on public transport more than anything else. Going through customs & immigration and having to arrive early for a flight adds on so much time, is it really worth it for FY to do SIN from MKZ? Is this something that's been thought out? Why? Why do Singaporeans love Melaka so much? I just don't get it.
  24. I was going to reply on what type of traveler I am, then I saw your post on these people and it touched a nerve. I have seen the videos before, it really annoys me what they're doing. Do these people realize that they're going to make it harder for Malaysians traveling overseas? It's incredibly Selfish! A Malaysian Passport can enter 145 countries and territories visa free, the 3rd most free in Asia after Japan and Singapore. Our Passports are ranked 11th in the world for most visa free access internationally. Ahead of South Korea, Hong Kong, Monaco, Cyprus, Malta, Slovenia, Czech Rep, Brunei. We recently had that scare a few months ago when Britain told us that they might take away our 6month Visa free status to the UK, and it's all thanks to these bozos in the video. They're looking for easy money, that's the same mentality that brings illegals to Malaysia. This is a serious matter that needs to be nipped in the bud, if not we'll soon have to apply for Visas everywhere we go. And going to get a Visa done is such a pain! To highlight, I was VIE a few years back, met a Ukrainian guy who was on transit, he had been stuck for DAYS inside the international terminal of VIE because he didn't have a Visa for the EU, he was only supposed to be at VIE for 4hrs on transit from the US, he was only going back home when his onward flight was canceled because of a snow in and bad weather. Imagine being stuck in an airport for days, sleeping on the floor, you can't go land side and check in to a hotel, even to get some fresh air, all because he didn't have a visa he didn't think he'd need. My flight too had been canceled, I too was on transit but it was ok, I could walk in and out of Austria whenever I felt like it, smell the fresh air, clear passport control in a few mins, after hearing that, the Ukrainian guy told me I was lucky to be a Malaysian. I'm glad I hold a Malaysian passport. Just for the sake of comparison to show how good we have it currently, Thai nationals have to get a Visa for the EU, we don't. They can only access 52 countries without a Visa. Indonesians fair a lot worse, even oil rich Bruneians need more Visas than we do. Here's the ranking <a href="http://www.henleyglobal.com/fileadmin/pdfs/content/HVRI2009_GlobalRanking.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.henleyglobal.com/fileadmin/pdfs...obalRanking.pdf</a> More info <a href="http://www.henleyglobal.com/citizenship/visa-restrictions/" target="_blank">http://www.henleyglobal.com/citizenship/visa-restrictions/</a> Sorry for the rant. I'll be annoyed even more if we fall further down the visa free rankings. We have already started to, once upon a time I believed Canada was Visa free for Malaysians.
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