Mohd. Helmi

Back to topic, I think MH should try a get an Indonesia airline, Mandala, Garuda, Sriwijaya. Synergies could be had, there are cultural similarities, huge market, and MH could provide the international feed to points in Indonesia, especially from the EU where Indonesian airlines are still banned. Take a look at how LH bought into other EU airlines, they went across the border only, taking Swiss, Austrian, both German speaking countries and then also Brussels Airline and BMI. MH expansion should follow the footsteps of LH expansion. Buy into the region's airlines first. I just hope it won't be a repeat of TR's Naluri days. Naluri owned 40% of Royal Air Cambodge and 49% of Air Maldives. MH planes were leased to Royal Air Cambodge until they were bankrupt.

Care to elaborate? The Maybank deal with BII and MCB was overvalued, but that was before the world economy tanked. It's a case of bad timing, but these companies could potentially provide future areas of growth for the group, I believe it's a long run investment strategy. Their foreign investments are not loss making operations, can you support your statement, Maybank Singapore contribute a decent amount to the groups profit (don't believe me, you can download Maybank sg's annual report). Genting groups international expansion I think has been a success, take star cruise for example, the 3rd largest cruise line in the world when they expanded and took Norwegian Cruise Lines, NCL America. It's integrated resort in Singapore could be a success, rather than let other gaming competitors take their Singaporean and Asian clientele, they took the proactive approach. Other Malaysian investments: One of the largest investments into South Africa was when Petronas bought the South Africa's Engen group, It was the largest single investment into the country at the time, and it gave Petronas access to a huge market in southern Africa. As mentioned before when Proton bought Lotus, they provided engineering expertise to Proton. And let's not forget TM, they own a lot of Mobile operators in Asia, but let's just take one example, TM's subsidiary Dialog telekom in Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka's largest mobile phone operator, the largest company listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange, the first 3G roll out in South Asia. If anything, I think we can be proud of Malaysian investments overseas.

Which makes me think of what a great airline they could actually be IF they had the "tools". Too bad they blew their profits away on bad hedging contracts, perhaps they could have equipped great software with great hardware. New hardware!! That's what they really need from my armchair enthusiast point of view, come out with new hardware that blows the competition away! Anyways, Well done, MH !

Not necessarily, by carrying a country name they can still carry the Asean flag. Why not? In Europe a lot of the airlines there fly the EU flag along with carrying a country's name and the flag of their home countries. For example the following airlines fly both a national flag and an EU flag: Austrian Airlines CSA Czech Airlines Finnair KLM Royal Dutch Airlines LUXAIR Luxembourg Airlines Air France (have the Euro stars that are found on the EU flag on a strip of blue on the tail, no full French flag) Brussels Airlines (sure it does not carry the name of a country, but it's Belgium's flag carrier) There are ones that don't: Lufthansa SAS Scandinavian Airlines Iberia British Airways (which actually doesn't even have the full Union Jack on it's planes) Alitalia (same as BA, no flag at all) TAP Portugal It would be nice to see the ASEAN flag on TG/MH/SQ/GA/BI/VN, creates a sense of ASEAN unity and identity.

Updating mine.. only new airline to add is Lufthansa 747-400

If they can do that right, it could be a real money spinner. There are big Eastern European communities in Australia and New Zealand. A lot of Poles, Croatians, Bosnians, Macedonians, Serbs amongst others. Not to mention the Southern Europeans, the Greeks and Italian communities. Melbourne is home to the largest greek community outside of Greece. MAS tried to do this with flights to ZAG, stopping at VIE, trying to capture the diaspora market, but unfortunately couldn't manage to make it work, unlike their flights to Beirut, filled with Australian Lebanese making trips back to their homeland. The Eastern Europeans are a price sensitive group like most diaspora communities, this might do well with AirAsiaX, because usually they've been going the way of star alliance not MH, via BKK or SIN and connecting at VIE or FRA onwards.

any news about the interior?

Curious, have you included the misc charges, airport tax, admin fees and the likes. Might be more expensive no?

This is exactly why we are where we are right now, a third world backwater, unknown between a financial capital south and tourism automotive giant north. Anyways why should he have to ask in the first place? That's the problem with our country, over regulation, government has to green light you on everything, it leads to people greasing politicians to get anywhere, which IS the situation in Malaysia (we can see the greasing of ministers can't we even in this labu debacle?). If this was in the deregulated US or Europe, this would have been a joke, I feel sorry for TF that He's being stifled in his operating environment. Izanee, never being satisfied is the key to success, you can't and must not just sit still and "be satisfied with what he has got", the world of business is not static, its highly fluid, companies come and go, innovators are out to be better than you. Stopping innovators, competition is only at the expense of the larger economy. So anyways, it's a good thing that Dato' TF is not satisfied. This sort of mentality is chronic and overly present within members of our society, people being just being "satisfied" with the way things are. There is room for improvement on every aspect, but just being satisfied is equivalent to complacency. Name most Malaysian GLCs and you can accuse them of being complacent at some period in time, "satisfied" as the government regulates the market to such an extent that they don't need to improve, be innovative. Lets see the various examples, Proton (gahmen protected the car market so it can supply expensive Japanese knock offs), our very own MH (taking forever with providing online booking, e-ticketing), KTM (train system that is woefully inefficient, tardy, and slow) and so on so forth, dare I say it MAHB as Ryan pointed out, inability to cope by changing it's plans, a key prerequisite of innovation (clearly a sign of being satisfied with the way things are!). There's nothing to be proud of if all we're satisfied in being is the local Jaguh Kampung. If Petronas were satisfied with what they have, which is the domestic oil fields, they wouldn't be Global or a Fortune 500 company, a Malaysian global brand.

5 star VALUE carrier mah..

Funny enough that's how i read it too and i agree with it. If MAHB really wanted it, we would have had a permanent LCCT by now. How long has it been since Air Asia moved to KLIA from Subang? I too feel for Dato Tony. Dragging their feet, being difficult with AK surely only benefits MH, no one else. So what is the real reason behind MAHB taking so long in providing permanent proper facilities for AK in line with AK's needs? Sheer incompetence??

And good for him if he does relocate, he's a business man, not a government, his priority is to his shareholders and employees not the rakyat. The rakyat is better off if he and his companies are better off. Look at it this way, the mak cik who sells you pisang goreng, sells it to you NOT because she cares that you the "rakyat" are better off being able to enjoy her nice fried bananas, but because you're giving her an income, giving her prosperity. Same thing with Dato' Tony on a larger scale, He couldn't give a rats ass about you the rakyat, but it's in his interests that your happy buying his products and want his products, like the mak cik, the exchange is when we give them money, they give us a product. In the end we all benefit, our economy grows. If MAS behaved this way from day 1, like a mak cik determined in selling pisang goreng, rather than a mak cik not caring or serious about selling bananas with all the retarded mismanagement (this mak cik in the pisang goreng world would starve to death), MH would be a world champ like SQ, instead of pretending to be one. If TF does relocate AK to another country, focuses on FD for example, thats good on him! because that's in his interests, if that's the only way he can make his business grow. Business acumen is like talent, it does not discriminate, it'll go to where it can thrive and be successful. Malaysia cannot strangle its talented sons and daughters, when it does, they seek better opportunities abroad at the expense of the country. Just to add my opinion on KLIA EAST. I just wished Dato Tony could just be honest with all of us, the rakyat. None of this Rakyat terminal nonsense and sugar coating it, KLIA EAST @ LABU. Dato, if you're reading this... seriously... the rakyat terminal??? stop the spin please. Also, it's another airport and not part of KLIA like the current LCCT, so just be honest with us, level with us, call it for what it is... you want Labu international airport, I'm inclined to believe us Malaysians are quite a practical bunch, we can see the need if there is one, if your straight and honest with us. That said, there are some relevant points, if MAHB was really serious about building a permanent structure, it would have been built by now. I understand AK's been stonewalled by MAHB, upper echelons of Malaysian society look down on AK, MH folks look down on AK, no wonder we're still waiting for a permanent LCCT. It just shows MAHB's snobbery against low cost travel, rather than trying to develop KLIA conducive for low cost travel, I bet the idea of KLIA being an LCC hub disgusts people. For any hub to succeed a prerequisite is to have strong home carriers, SIN has SQ, FRA has LH, DXB has EK, LHR has BA, CDG has AF. MH is only recovering, if MH is unable to compete globally we shouldn't stop AK from trying, so in my opinion, AK should go with their pumpkin plans.

I think it would be nice to also see Firefly's ATRs at KLIA. Any props would be nice... In my opinion.

It's an old aircraft, before project XM was implemented, AC's cabin refurbishment program. With project XM all of Air Canada's fleet have PTVs, economy class even actually have AVOD, it's nice that it's fleet wide and this includes from the smallest puny Embraer to their latest 777LR, that's what i call product consistency, you know that on economy class on AC you know you'll always get ptvs regardless of aircraft. The A340 never went for project XM, in fact it's already out of AC's fleet. Bit of day dreaming, wouldn't it be great if MH went through a little Project XM, their fleet is feeling a little aged, you notice it and no matter what change of color on the seat covers MH comes up with, even the stark bright colors won't change this fact. Anyways back to topic, It's interesting that D7 is servicing Europe with leased birds, surely this is a temporary thing as their A330's can't reach London from KL, in that case, what's the permanent solution for D7? Actually buying the particular aircraft? Which one? Somehow, I don't think their focus is Europe at the moment, looking at their business model, quickish turn around, direct point to point flights and their choice of aircraft ordered, seems D7 is more Aust, North and South Asia orientated. London seems to be a freak destination, especially specifically leasing 2ac just for that route??

Dato' TF would be like having Idris Jala sign on. Also whilst Dato TF interests are in and for AK, I think firstly he's a true aviation enthusiast, that might be his original purpose for signing on. Thats my feelings on the matter, his blog posts on his experiences traveling SQ, him going to Europe and being excited about LCC models in Europe, he got into the aviation business out of his choice, unlike IJ who was hand picked by khazanah. Anyways, as we see from Malaysia Airlines, the posts are from a number of different people. In all fairness, not what i would call balanced views since Dato' TF is just one man, not a whole communications department. It would be good for balance, it would be bring a fresh perspective. Someone should email AK communications unit, I've experienced AK corporate people before, they're quite easy going and approachable.

For balance then as aviation enthusiasts don't you think we should also get AK on board?

MH released a second response to the letter, available at the MH blog, written by the same Mr. John Low http://www.malaysiaairlinesblog.com/?p=1190 some snippets from MH... "Our records show that business class was full hence they were unable to upgrade Mrs. O’ Sullivan. Mrs. O’ Sullivan was re-seated within the economy cabin before the flight took off for her safety and security. The Captain was informed that the situation had been diffused, before the flight took off." "contacted Mr. O’Sullivan and then Mrs. O’Sullivan over the phone in early January, and we had offered an apology and service recovery for the unfortunate experience, which was subsequently rejected." It's good that the author of the letter whom goes by the name Malaysia Airlines also posts and participates on this forum, perhaps you can shed further light on the issue. I had put a part in bold for you to please clarify, could you put that in plain English what "offered service recovery" actually entails, what does that really mean, free tickets to Miri, 10% discount on the next flight? Also, no wonder your attempts "was subsequently rejected", was it such a surprise?. Did you honestly think she was willing to fly or deal with MH again? Or whatever the service recovery protocol you have in place especially after such an atrocious experience?? I think you probably lost yourself another customer to the likes of SQ, TG, Gulf carriers. MH you're lucky on this one, if this had been in the litigation happy United States you would have been sued for the distress caused to this woman. Also why did you have the trouble maker, who was clearly badly behaved and in a frightening, belligerent manner, causing distress to fellow passengers allowed to be on the flight? People have been kicked out off planes for far less. on a side note: Mods, i thought the forum rules stated that we had to use our real names on our posts. Isn't Malaysia Airlines violating and in breach of your forum rules? ohhh.. and to add, Happy Chinese New Year everyone!

It's supposed to be a common occurrence ??? News to me. I've done the the sector numerous times, O&D and transit and I'm sure some of you as well, seeing how Malaysians love SIN. What's weird is that it's never happened to me, MH & SQ have never lost anything. Was I lucky? Lost luggage does happen, but i thought more likely to happen on transits like what ryan said. KLM lost my luggage once, it ended up in Manila! But I'm not blaming the airlines, it's a statistical fact that it's bound to happen to fliers.

So does that really work? I wrote an email to MH once, this was many many years ago and I'm still waiting for a reply... but dunno if that reflects how they feel about their customers or shows how inefficient they are. Putting myself in her position I would be extremely livid over the incident and I too would be writing to the papers. We all know MH service on the ground is renowned to be erratic at best and that their only saving grace is their cabin crew, but if that also falters, then you've got.... .... ..... Wow if true, this story is a stunning case of Malaysian Hospitality. What a 5 star treatment by MH! I feel sorry for her.

I'm not suggesting they pull out of SIN. Even if such a merger to ever happen, there will surely be a QF presence in SIN. I'm actually quite skeptical about the whole thing, the best we can expect for if there were to be an MH-QF tie up, is that there would be QF codes on MH flights. The whole scenario of QF shifting their LHR stopover to KUL can only happen when it can be justified economically, QF has a no nonsense sense attitude about doing things, just short of ruthlessness, shifting QF maintenance offshore, as well as outsourcing IT and inflight services during the Geoff Dixon era. But that said, eventually over time, if such a merger goes through, I suspect it would actually make more sense not to have network overlaps, like any merger/tie-up there needs to be gains in economies of scope, scale and synergies, savings would definitely be had from cutting out network overlapping. Premium traffic could be built and passed on to KUL from the QF network and as a result of the QF presence. Anyways, this is just an opinion to a hypothetical scenario, a highly exciting and interesting one, whatever it maybe, I have huge doubts about it.

If only.. I think there's good opportunities to be had if this were to happen. The very least QF flying to KUL to provide connections. The very best they shift their SIN hub to KUL for their Kangaroo hops. QF only fly to FRA and LHR in Europe, so they could tag on MH to other EU destinations, providing the much needed frequency, yield and load, not to mention giving QF access to more routes to the Middle East, India, China, South East Asia. QF, being such a large carrier, actually don't offer many international routes (once upon a time they did, during the not so profitable, glory romantic years of flying multi sectors), but anyways the current lack in international routes is a reflection on how removed geographically Australia is in the world, Asia provides Aust the connections. MH-QF partnership in my view would be much better than a Skyteam membership, simply because the new entity could be much more competitive on the Australia to Europe sector. especially with all these Middle eastern carriers making in roads on the Kangaroo route, also there's greater synergies to be had from such a merger, more so than BA in my view. A combined BA-QF-MH entity would be even better, perfect!! The shift of QF/BA to KUL would be a major coup for KUL, akin to Mearsk and Evergreen shipping lines moving their shipping transshipment hub from PSA to PTP. .... Ohh well.

yeah... I've noticed it too for Langkawi, now increased to 105 from last time which was under 100.

If this had happened just weeks ago, i would have been stranded. Good thing I'm a Malaysian, worse case scenario, I could just bus or train it down to our tanah air. Anyways, I agree, a bonanza for KUL and SIN, they could get some extra traffic from BKK, especially traffic out of Thailand as holiday makers and business folks find alternatives home. It's a shame about what's happening in BKK, a shame because it's one of the best cities in SEA. I have a feeling BKK would be closed for quite some time. This political crisis has been going on for many years, without a clear ending in sight, it seems to be escalating.

A sad goodbye to a landmark. Just got back tu KUL with an LH flight on Thursday, they had a nice piece on this in the LH "Magazin", basically saying Berlin is a boom town, reached and broke the 20 Million passenger mark for people flying into Berlin, fastest growth in Germany, nice little facts, like LH was only allowed to fly into Berlin 1 year after the Berlin wall came down in 1990, but also ironically how the airline was actually started there but as Deutsche Luft Hansa, it's LH's birth place. I fully appreciate how Templhof is a profound German aviation landmark, it's such a shame, "the mother of all airports" quoting Baron Foster is gone, but at least the iconic terminal building will still be around, albeit as a museum for the Berlin airlift. The whole area is set for commercial and residential redevelopment, park included. Trotzdem, auf wiedersehen Tempelhof!!

for me it would be 1) Piaggio P180 Avanti 2) Il-96-300 3) Gulfstream G650 (which I would have to wait until 2009)