KC Sim

The aircraft involved was 9V-SKB and it finally took off again at 0424 hrs on 26 September to Melbourne. KC Sim

Talk about sensationalising an incident ... I remember how it used to be "tires burst on landing or takeoff" ... but these days, it is "explode". And that itself called for further linkage to the engine explosion over Batam ... And I am certain that no airline expects compensation from burst tires, as irritating and inconvenient as such incidents are. KC Sim

With the number of people I regularly see eating sloppily, I can imagine the screen to end up harbouring lots of stray droplets of gravy and food pieces. Simply providing a screen wipe is not going to work as I do not believe too many are civic-minded enough to do a relatively conscientious task cleaning that screen after their meal. And although a portion of the tray table is transparent and allows for one to view the screen even when the tray table is in the upright position, you will probably find lots of people lowering the tray table from the moment they sit down ... and cabin crew members will have a hard time reminding everyone to put the tray back in the upright position for take-off. And with the transparent portion of the tray table covering the front of the screen, I also imagine you will not be able to use any touch-screen function. With airlines already looking at wi-fi connection and the use of tablets, this seems to be a big step in the wrong direction. And I am not certain if there is any weight-saving using this concept. KC Sim

Good news ... Although officials from Finnair and Rovio confirmed during the press conference that the decals will only stay on the A340-300 for flight AY81/82 on 20/21 September, it is now known that the decals were not removed after its arrival in Helsinki. OH-LQD made a quick dash to Hong Kong and today (24 September), it was back in Singapore and finally landed in rather more decent light. So here's a quick shot of it on final approach to runway 20R. KC Sim

Thanks Cornelis, for keeping this thread alive. I need to install my Photoshop CS5 before I can begin to process my shots from Quito (taken in April 2010 ... hahaha). Once that is done, I will have plenty of shot from there to share again, including the B727-100 and B727-200 of Fuerza Aerea Ecuatoriana (FAC), Arrow Air DC-10F, Icaro Cargo B737-200F (in old colours) etc. Nice Icaro Air B737 in new colours and Air Cuenca B737-500 by Cornelis ... Air Cuenca is already gone after the B735 did an excursion off the runway at one of the domestic airports and Icaro Air is already defunct. Increasingly, AeroGal's B737-200 are being replaced by Airbus A320s ... yet another classic disappearing from Quito. KC Sim

Also the "Angry Birds" added onto the model are actually stickers ... I could see some of them being rather poorly applied and the corners were curling up. Also note the model bore the 0H-LQB registration while the actual aircraft was registered OH-LQD. A pity that Finnair did a sloppy job on that otherwise beautiful model. I am sure we will shortly be seeing pictures taken at Helsinki this morning when it returned from Singapore ... and by now, the decals would have been removed. Such a pity that this was strictly for a one-flight promotion only. This was confirmed both by Finnair as well as by Rovio (the people behind the Angry Birds games). KC Sim

It was a pity that the weather was dismal when Finnair's Angry Bird A340-300 OH-LQD landed ... but soon after, the sun came out shining. After post-flight handling, the A343 was towed to a remote stand to make way for a Jetstar flight. Each of the four engines had a different Angry Bird character ... with another one plastered on the nose. For four hours while cruising at 10000 metres, eight die-hard Angry Birds fans from the US, Finland, UK, Singapore and Malaysia battled for supremacy and eventually, Jani ULAJAS (right) from Finland won. Among the prizes he won was a prime seat for this Sunday's Formula One Grand Prix race in Singapore and this A340-300 model. It has been confirmed by Finnair that the decals will only remain on the aircraft until it arrives in Helsinki, after which the decals will be removed. KC Sim

It would be interesting if the Cargolux-Boeing issue remains unresolved for some time and Cathay Pacific Cargo becomes the "First to Fly B748F" by default. At the rate things are not progressing, this seem a more likely scenario with each passing day. KC Sim

Perhaps could consider this for a future Malaysianwings anniversary celebration when it takes place in KUL. KC Sim

I personally love that livery by cardataba ... very stylish combination of colours (although I wish that one could make out the "wau" logo on the tail) ... and I would love to see this livery on the A380 - perhaps with enlarged titles for better proportion. KC Sim

And even though the SIA A380s compete with Lufthansa's A380s on the Frankfurt-Singapore route, one should note that SIA's A380s have Business Class seats that convert into a fully-flat bed while Lufthansa's A380 Business Class seats are inclined! Frankly, I do not understand why Lufthansa did not fit subsequent A380s with the fully-flat bed that have already been earmarked for their B747-8 Intercontinentals. The non-stop A345 service between Singapore and Newark definitely have their loyal core of business travellers and I don't think there is any danger of these passengers abandoning the A345 in significant numbers. Having flown SIA's A345 nonstop between Singapore and Los Angeles and on Thai's A345 non-stop between Bangkok and JFK, I personally am a big fan of such ultra-longhaul nonstop flights - except that SIA's A345s are in exclusively Business Class configuration. KC Sim

And also bear in mind that Europe's airspace is fragmented and control is passed from one national ATC to another! Imagine how much better it could be if there was a unifed air traffic management and control system throughout the EU. A pity Flightradar24 shows very little of planes operating in our region - thankfully someone in KUL vicinity is sending out location of those planes near KUL. Otherwise this whole airspace from Indonesia to the Bay of Bengal to the upper reaches of the South China Sea is a blank space. KC Sim

Saddens me to read Nik H's plea to the new MD of Malaysia Airlines. How is it so many could see through the plot behind the share swap and yet this whole CCF-nonsense is able to get all the blessings! And suddenly the tourism folks in East Malaysia are once again left in the lurch ... the letter "F" must increasingly sound more like a bad-word here, given the treatment previously by FAX and now Firefly ... both bearing the signature of Tony F. Three of us from your Southern neighbour recently went on a Firefly flight from Johor Bahru to Kota Kinabalu and back ... although we flew on the ancient B737-400, we had a thoroughly enjoyable experience. The cabin crew members were absolutely fabulous and the food was incredibly tasty. I am left in total amazement comparing the nasi lemak on Firefly's 2-hour flight (it was flavourful beyond belief) and on MAS' almost 12-hour flight to London. So wonderful were the Firefly food offers that I sampled four dishes on two flights and was contemplating ordering take-aways (except that the nasi-lemak was not available on the night flight from BKI-JHB). At that time (end-August), the cabin attendants on the B734s were completely clueless about their fate but they remained cheerful and continued to be very enthusiastic about Firefly. I feel sadness when I contemplate what their fate would be. I hope that MAS absorbs them into its operation and not let them be gobbled up by AirAsia. They were so good at what they were employed and trained to do and would be able to stand tall among MAS' kebaya-clad girls (and probably don't need to wear wigs). This Sapphire-scheme still baffles me ... how much demand is there for a super-premium all-business class service ("super-premium" and "all-business class" were words from a member of the MAS team)? Even in Singapore which is the regional HQ for hundreds of MNCs, the only such service are those to Los Angeles and New York-Newark. I wait in anticipation of more coming out of this share-swap ... thus far, I fail to see what this has done for Malaysia Airlines. KC Sim

Hahaha ... all airpass holders have been made aware of such rules at the time of issuance, but many think they could still circumvent them. It surprises me to hear that the pilot has been found guilty of this trespass ... personally, I never thought the authorities would really enforce these rules. KC Sim

What an elegant freighter ... I understand Hong Kong will be Cargolux's first B747-8F destination ... hope the rest of us in Asia (SIN and KUL) get to see and photograph her soon. I am even more keen to see CX Cargo's first B747-8F in the special livery. Within the next six months, we will have the opportunity to chase and photograph B747-8Fs and B787 DreamLiners! Understand that JAL's B787s will be coming to SIN, its first international B787 destination before it is deployed on the NRT-BOS route later in 2012. Interesting times ahead for spotting. Perhaps some of these will also appear at the Singapore Airshow 2012 in February. KC Sim

Fully agree that it is about time ... under Tony Davis' watch, Tiger Airways' service attitude and reputation have deteriorated drastically. While he was rightfully watching the airine's costs, he made the mistake of assuming that passengers who purchase a low fare ticket are poor and do not deserve a reasonable level of service, even when the airline cancels flights or delay them significantly. All manners of systemic problems crept up - ranging from pilot shortage to crewing issues, maintenance issues etc. About bloody time that Tony Davis feel the front end of someone else's boot. Hopefully, Tiger Airways service attitude and reputation embarks on the road to healing henceforth. KC Sim

It appears the new management team at MAS has dropped the notion of re-evaluating the merits of Skyteam and has decided to stay on the road towards oneworld membership. I am relieved to learn of this because I personally don't think it would be any less difficult for MAS to gain entry into Skyteam today as it was several years ago. It is in fact a near certainty that the door has already slammed shut there. Now, it would be interesting to see a MAS aircraft in oneworld livery. KC Sim

The article above in The Star Online is indeed a very poorly researched one. I was shocked ... that MAS is even re-thinking its entry into oneworld. Whatever merits there are of joining any alliance should have been clear to any MAS management - old or new - not to mention other seen or unseen forces that dictates the induction of new airlines into an alliance. oneworld I was positively surprised when I realised about 10 minutes before Qantas and MAS announced plans for the latter to join oneworld. This happened at the start of a new day at the 67th IATA AGM in Singapore and I met a MAS' senior PR lady. As soon as she gave me her card, I immediately sensed what was imminent and asked her if MAS is being invited into oneworld which was hosting that media event. She said she could not confirm or deny that ... which literally confirmed it. My reservation about this development is the absence of two of oneworld's key members - BA and QF - in the Malaysian market, particularly QF as the sponsor airline. I have also reservation about MAS' management to work alongside those of BA/QF/CX - with the latter group's very Anglo-centric mindset, and I have voiced this in previous postings in Mwings. If oneworld's carriers do not hub in KUL in a major way, the alliance will find it difficult to tap into the merits of MAS' network. CX and JL don't really need to tap into MAS' network as they serve most of the key cities in this region with their own metal. Skyteam MAS has been keen on and was indeed pursuing Skyteam membership for years ... supported strongly by KLM's Petr Hartmann. But even this support was not able to win over the agreement of Air France. Now that Skyteam has got Vietnam Airlines and is also getting Garuda, what is in it for Skyteam if MAS wants to join in? Isn't it the same case IF MAS wishes to join Star Alliance when TG and SQ are just north and south of Malaysia? Would it not be a most embarassing situation if MAS were to tell oneworld to scoot off ... and then Skyteam rejects its membership request? And now that oneworld carriers - especially Qantas - are aware of MAS re-think, would they not feel slighted? KC Sim

Indeed, this is indeed possible and probably the most likely scenario. But for an airline that sponsored MAS' entry into oneworld, I am certain many - including those from Malaysia Airports Berhad and others in the tourism industry - were hoping that Qantas operates ite own metal into KUL. Remains to be seen which route Qantas takes in fulfilling its ambition to offer onestop services between Australia and the three cities. KC Sim

Heads-up for Penang spotters. Air Hong Kong's B744 will be back with you tomorrow (20 August) for more training. The flight schedule is as follows: LD095/20AugSIN-PEN STD1030 STA 1200 LD095/20Aug PEN-SIN STD 1600 STA1730 Hope you guys get some beautiful action shots. KC Sim

It all depends ... if Sapphire's business model entails offering a one-class service, it would not be necessary to re-configure the cabin layout. I personally don't think that the cabin will be given a 2-class layout - may not be cost-effective. But I am still trying to see if anyone can definitively confirm the rebranding of Firefly into Sapphire, or is Sapphire a totally different airline that will exist alongside Firefly. KC Sim

Quite the opposite. The Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation told me that Firefly will no longer continue to operate jet services (and we have read that immediately after Tune Air became a stakeholder in MAS), and that it will actually be transformed into a full service carrier (a-la-SilkAir and Dragonair) operating ATR72s on regional routes. This totally takes it out of the competitive picture insofar as AirAsia is concerned. Let me try to reach out to the folks at Firefly to confirm this. KC Sim

Is there someone among the Mwingers who know the story behind Sapphire? I was told today that Sapphire is actually the new name for Firefly, which will dump its jets and operate ATR72 as a full service carrier. Is this correct? KC Sim

Wow, never thought I will get to ever see the view from Don Muang's viewing mall again!!! What a wonderful sight! This hopefully should be added justification for Mwings to celebrate its anniversary in Bangkok ... and for more members to quickly sign up. KC Sim

Hardly a pro-consumer development here. Malaysia Airlines, Sapphire, FireFly, MASwings, AirAsia and AirAsia X are all linked to one another or Khazanah Holdings ... a cartel-arrangement that will certainly not gain approval of anti-trust laws in many countries. If Qantas and MAS were to jointly start up a new premium airline based in KUL (and this is not Sapphire), then it gets even more interesting. Assuming that all these happen and anti-trust laws in Malaysia subsequently catches up with the rest of the world, I wonder if the commission that upholds that law could act retrospectively and declare the arrangement between all these carriers illegal and force a split somewhere. For the time being, all I can say is that the photographers among us are all "suffering" from uncontrollable twitching in our index fingers! When the time is right, a spotting trip to KUL is an absolute must. Meanwhile, I am glad that my friends and I are jumping onboard the Firefly flight from Johor Bahru to Kota Kinabalu this Saturday and back - before Firefly reverts to being a turboprop operator! How timely! KC Sim