S. Huang

Great job documenting the hard work that goes into every livery. I have always loved MH's red livery, cos that's what I grew up associating MH with. Wouldn't it be nice to top off this transformation by upholstering every seat with the seat covers of the 70s? That way, the retro feel can be experienced both inside and outside the aircraft!

Let's see...airlines I have flown on in my life and the destinations I have flown them to (not necessarily ex-SIN or recent) 1) Olympic Airways - ATH, LHR, SYD, MEL 2) Thai Airways - BKK, MNL, HKT 3) KLM - SYD, MEL, DEL, DPS, JKT, AMS, VIE 4) Garuda - AUH, FRA 5) Lufthansa - YYZ, FRA, TIP, DUS, LHR 6) Qantas - PER, SYD 7) Korean Air - BKK 8 ) Turkish Airlines - IST, NAV 9) China Airlines - TPE, SGN 10) ANA - NRT 11) United - ORD, MSP, TPE, NRT 12) Northwest - NRT 13) China Eastern - SHA, PEK, KMG, CTU, CKG 14) China Southern - SHA, CAN 15) Air China - KMG, CKG 16) Sichuan Airlines - CTU,CKG 17) Shanghai Airlines - SHA, CAN, CKG, PVG 18) Silk Air - KMG, REP, PNH 19) Vietnam Airlines - DAD, HAN, SGN 20) Libyan Arab Airlines - TIP 21) Malaysia Airlines - PEN, KUL, HKG 22) Royal Brunei - BWN 21) Cathay Pacific - HKG, BKK 22) Dragon Air - PEK, HKG 21) Air India - SYD 22) Pakistan Airlines - DXB, KHI 23) British Airways - PER, MEL 24) Emirates - DXB, KWI 25) Air New Zealand - AKL, WLG 26) Alaska Airlines - LAX, YVR 27) Asiana - BKK, NRT 28) Jet Airways - BOM, MAA 29) Libyan Arab Airlines(operated by Nouvelair)- BEN 30) Singapore Airlines - KUL, BKK, SGN, HAN, TPE, FRA, LAX, PEK, PVG, SHA, DPS, BNE, SYD, LHE, KHI, DXB, IST, ICN, NRT, CAN, AKL, ORD, AMS, BOM, DEL

Thanks for the explanation. I would have thought that with the on-going renovation work at T1, T1 would be the one facing a shortage of parking bays.

Why are there SQ aircrafts parked at the T1 gates?

I'm assuming that since this is IC/AI, it would have been an A320/B737, where there were no crew sitting by the emergency exit to prevent anyone from trying to open the door. Whatever happened to the usual checks where passengers sitting at the exit row are asked if he knew what he was supposed to do in the event of an emergency? If the crew did that, he/she would have realised then that the monk didn't understand English/Hindi/Tamil...a language that instructions would have been given over the PA in the event of an emergency. Or perhaps all this happened before the cabin doors were closed, and the crew had not done their safety checks... (but the article did say 'still on the runway').

And while we are on the topic of nostalgia, found this clip showing Singapore's Paya Lebar airport in 1969. Frankly I don't quite recall how Paya Lebar used to look like, but I certainly don't recall it having any open air check-in/ticketing areas... you can see CSA, BOAC, Alitalia, Air New Zealand, Thai, Qantas counters and signages in the background! I don't think there was ever any boarding announcements made in Cantonese!! haha Take note also of the comet in MSA livery! Paya Lebar Airport from 2:16 onwards... you'll have to excuse the atrociously unnatural acting!

Most people here are assuming that the bottle belonged to the passenger who was hurt. So, assuming that it was someone else's bottle, should MH pay for the medical cost? How much did the medical bill come to? Sometimes, a little gesture of goodwill (especially if it doesn't burn a hole in the airline's pockets) goes a long way in winning over passengers and generating positive publicity for the airline. Of course, there could be the danger that by paying for the medical bill, MH was assuming full responsibility for the accident, and the passenger would then have every right to sue the pants off MH. Shouldn't it be the cabin crew who ensures that everything is in order prior to landing? I thought the Captain's announcement for "cabin crew, please prepare the cabin for arrival" basically means that the crew should ensure that everything, from trolleys to cabinets to overhead bins are properly secured?

Don't read too much into it. It probably just means that Skytrax is still tabulating the scores for MH. Downgrading MH is as much a slap for Skytrax as it is for MH... I can assure you that MH will retain its glorious ratings with Skytrax.

Sorry, not the kind of top quality pictures that are usually posted here, but here's an image of the Jett8 aircraft with Changi logo on it. Couldn't fit the whole aircraft into my view finder as it was too close. Back: Front:

You are right. There's always some on-going effort being done by the government to boost the economy and tourism numbers. They know very well slapping a "Visit Singapore Year" decal on every SIA aircraft isn't going to do the trick.

Here are some pictures of the afternoon's event... Samplings of stuff that Porsche enthusiasts came to the event for... Samplings of stuff that aviation enthusiasts came for...

The event was mainly for members of the Porsche club, lucky draw winners and various corporate guests. It's too small an event and was never meant to boost the economy as mentioned by someone above. The whole objective of this race was to be a prelude to the F1 race in Singapore later this month (now that's the real tourist and economy boosting event), as well as to celebrate the corporatisation of Changi Airport. I was there this afternoon for the race. The actual race lasted less than a minute but guests were there from 12pm to 3pm. Quite a number of activities were planned in between, such as a cocktail event to unveil the new Porsche 911 GT3, live interviews with the driver and pilot, not to mention excellent grand stand views of various aircrafts taxiing past less than 20meters in front of you. All in all, for Porsche lovers, it was a great event to get together with like-minded people; while aviation enthusiasts like myself were treated to the smell of jet fuel and seeing aircrafts really up close. Overall, a very enjoyable afternoon, albeit marred by the fact that I had forgotten to slap on my sunblock lotion.

Looks really cool. I've got an invite for the one taking place in Singapore, I hope it'll be worth the trip/traffic/time.

Actually, SIA serves Singapore made "Khong Guan" biscuits with their lunch/dinner trays in Y ex-SIN. Unfortunately we don't produce many other things that will give that 'atas' ambience to the famed SIA inflight product. Frankly, I'm sure MH buys those foreign wafers in bulk, and would have gotten a considerable discount for it. It can't be that much more expensive. Am sure Malaysian products are just as good, but maybe all it needs is nicer packaging. Some of the local (Singapore included) products look so, erm, kampong (a.k.a cheap looking). If there's one thing Asians can learn from their European counterparts, it's packaging. They are just more attractive and pleasing to the eyes than some of our local products. Has anyone ever seen the salt, pepper, sugar sachets that SAS has? It's simple, yet classy....now compare that with the ugly looking ones on SQ - never seen MH's before. Better still, look at those peanuts/snacks, cup water that come in the airlines' own packaging... SQ, MH, TG, CX...urgh! LH, NZ, LX... nice and simple.

Actually you are quite spot-on. Singaporeans don't get much opportunity to slam their foot on the accelerators in their home turf. I know of some Singaporeans who have managed to get from Singapore to Malacca in their Japanese/Korean cars just shy of 2 hours...2 hrs 5 min if they slow down to avoid the traffic police spot-checks. Why fly when you can drive?

I find that the meals look very sufficient for a domestic sector. It's just that the presentation is truly lacking. Version 1 of the snack box looked good, but lacked content... and now, content looks decent, but the box looks like what you get when you order takeaway at a hawker centre... Wonder when MH will get it right. Are the boxes more environmentally friendly than if they were to used re-useable trays and plates like on many other airlines?

Hmm... it's quite obvious that few airlines find KLIA an attraction stop. And until high yielding traffic can be eeked out of there, the only place with action will be KL LCCT. In any case, SIN or BKK (dare I say the two de facto gateway to Malaysia) is just a skip across the prairie. MH provides very good connections to both cities. From there, you'll be spoilt by the huge variety of airlines to choose from.... including the much loved BA and QF.

It's all making sense now... Toyota, not Mercedes. All that, and the LCC-esque seats and meals fit nicely into the idea of aiming to be the Toyota of the airline industry. Would we be seeing the removal of First Class soon? Coz F class is more like Lexus/Benz than Toyota. As for serving porridge instead of Lamb Biryani, was this really the feedback from passengers...cos Chinese would at most take porridge for breakfast, and not for all meals... I hope this isn't another one of those "93% love our snackboxes" thingy.

What else did you think I was referring to?? Actually yes... from what I see MH is getting into... it does seem like one big joke, doesn't it?!

Ah, then it's not possible for MH to claim to be an Asian pioneer of such J class configuration I don't envy the job of MH's director of marketing then. Lets not keep harping on Skytrax. Skytrax is hardly recognized as an industry benchmark by many of the world's leading airlines anyway. BA, LH, LX are all considered premium carriers in their own right. MH should aim to go beyond Skytrax, and pitch themselves against other industry leaders. Quite frankly, there must be a reason why MH deems it necessary to bring (some say lower) their J class product to European standards. We may not have the answers here, but I'm sure this decision has been evaluated and agreed upon at the top level...

The European concept of medium haul business class has its advantages. Firstly, it gives the airline flexibility in managing its load and yield. Secondly, it costs the airline less and allows for easier maintenance by having one type of seat throughout the aircraft. I believe those Y class seats are lighter in weight compared to the proper J class seats that are currently installed in their premium cabins. No one in Asia has dared to try this business class concept, not even Air Asia X, and I see MH as the trend setter here. Furthermore, this is very much in line with their pursuit of becoming a 5 star value carrier. BA, LH, LX all have these business class seats on inter-European flights, and they still managed to keep their 5 star ranking. I believe MH will be able to do so as well. Kudos to MH. I look forward to them introducing this business class concept on all their regional routes. It's not a bad thing and I don't think it will surprise travelers who have become used to the quality of products that MH has been introducing of late; more importantly, MH can proudly declare in future marketing campaigns that they are pioneers of this product in this region. MH Boleh!

Can someone please translate what she said/yelled/screamed?? I'm totally clueless when it comes to Cantonese... thanks in advance.

I'm so envious that you managed to fly on and try first hand the new A330's regional J class... Aesthetically, SQ's new regional J looks great, and while it falls short on spaciousness as you suggested, it's afterall a regional product...Perhaps it's sometimes better to compare apples to apples. I recall a respected Malaysian member from another forum saying these very words... Even so, many will consider the seat on this regionally configured SQ B772 to be inferior to the MH B772 on this sector – but it seems it’s SQ which gets the loads. With arguably the best hard product among Far East airlines from Perth, MH should be the market leader among them. But is it? Now that SQ has upgraded their regional product to be en par with the international product on other carriers, hopefully many will consider SQ to possess the best hard product out of PER (as you highlighted), and continue to fill their aircrafts in these difficult times...

Thanks for the latest upload! It's amazing to see the evolution of airline ads over the decades. In the late 60s, new destinations and state of the art aircraft appear to be the buzz word. It's also interesting to see that Asian airlines haven't changed much, as they are still emphasizing Asian hospitality and service today... I believe the late 70s and early 80s was when airlines started showing the individualism and difference in their cabin interiors...e.g. JAL's beds on their 742 upper decks etc... Looking forward to more scans from the bygone era...

As you rightly said so yourself, this is the zillionth A330 on the face of the earth, unlike the A380 where it was a novelty and everyone wanted to get their hands on the that model aircraft. The A333 flight to BNE is only special to SQ as it marks the launch of their new regional J. But thanks for agreeing with me for once Cheers.