KC Sim

It is one thing to fly from Australia to KUL, and then send passengers scooting to destinations such as Amsterdam, Rome and Istanbul on code-shared Malaysia Airlines services. But it is another thing to establish an airline in the home of its oneworld member-elect, Malaysia Airlines and compete on routes linking KUL to different parts of Asia. Whereas Malaysia Airlines previously had to contend with competition from AirAsia - now under the broader umbrella of a partnership in which Khazanah Holdings is the driver, a Qantas-linked premium carrier will effectively cart away almost half of the earnings ... Assuming that the new airline is simply a 51:49% partnership between MAS and QF respectively, it remains to be seen whether MAS' gains from this new carrier is bigger than what it would earn if this carrier was never established. The fact that such a carrier will be operating A320s (and later A320Neos), many of the routes will likely compete with MAS' own premium service operations. Strange times bring together strange bed-fellows indeed. KC Sim

So the prospects for Malaysian aviation is this: - Malaysia Airlines, a premium full service carrier - Sapphire, a premium full service regional carrier - Firefly, a full service domestic and regional carrier - AirAsia X, a medium and longhaul low cost carrier - AirAsia, a domestic and regional low cost carrier Add to that, the possibility of a new premium carrier with 49% Qantas ownership ... or is there the possibility for Qantas to take a 49% stake in Sapphire. I quite like the name Sapphire as it is easily understood internationally and is associated with something luxurious. As mentioned earlier, it goes well with Gold (MAS). These are the most interesting times for Malaysian aviation ... aptly evolving just as Malaysia celebrates the centenary of aviation. KC Sim

Among the measure that Qantas has announced yesterday is its plan to offer one-stop services between Australia and Amsterdam, Rome and Istanbul with oneworld member-elect Malaysia Airlines. This can only mean one thing : Qantas is almost certain to operate from Australia to Kuala Lumpur using its own metal ... a one-stop services to these three destinations is not possible if it relies on its present services to Singapore. This certainly is good news. But on the other hand, will a new premium carrier - 49% owned by Qantas - be a boon to Malaysia Airlines/AirAsia or will it further compete with them? KC Sim

I find this statement amazing. This issue being discussed is a strictly Malaysian affair and I feel it is unfair to ALWAYS link it to Singapore. I can only say that when news emerged of plans by YTL to offer high-speed rail services between KUL and SIN, I have not seen any Singaporean clamouring for this service, dancing in joy or rubbing their hands in anticipation. If indeed this service is operated, it could only bring benefits to the economies of both KUL and Singapore .... how on Earth did you come to the decision that it would benefit Singapore more. Unless you have studies to prove that there is a whole segment of the Malaysian population excitedly holding their passports waiting for the express train to take them to Singapore ... itching to go and spend their money there, and far fewer Singaporean planning to visit KUL, it is best to then tone down such sweeping statements. If nothing else, a high-speed rail service will probably encourage the almost 12 million tourists who come to Singapore to extend their holidays in Kuala Lumpur too. Perhaps you could not be more wrong, but sorry, I digress. The issue being discussed here is the shady deal between a government-linked agency and a private local company ... and unknowingly, users of KLIA (not just Malaysians but travellers from all over the world) have been helping to fatten the coffers of the local company. I too have been such a dumb victim, having used KLIA on so many occasions I cannot even begin to count ... and never used the express train service. KC Sim

Yet another B777LRF operator ... and hopefully these operate to SIN and Malaysia too. I am a big fan of B777LRFs ... and have the good fortune of photographing those from LAN Cargo, China Cargo, China Southern, Fedex, Thai Cargo and AeroLogic. Hopefully TNT operate her B777LRF to SIN at some point in place of the B744ERFs. And hopefully like one of its B747-836Fs, Cathay Pacific Cargo paints some of its B777LRFs in special liveries. A great day in all for Boeing ... bagging orders for a dozen B77Ws (four for CX and eight for SQ) and eight B777LRFs. Another airline soon to receive B77Ws is Garuda! That should be a beauty. KC Sim

For a long time, I have been wondering how SIA - which absolutely loves the B777-300ER - is going to continue squeezing higher utilisation from its fleet of 19 B777-300ERs. Finally, it places its top-up order for 8 aircraft and these could not come any sooner. KC Sim

There may have been slight inaccuracies in the report. Lao Airlines is actually going to take on lease an Airbus A319 with 16 Business Class seats and 126 Economy Class seats for the Vientiane - Singapore route. The representative office in Singapore is Maple Aviation Services - the same company representing TransAsia Airways. I remember the time when Lao Airlines leased an Airbus A320 from Vietnam Airlines, a lease that lasted only a very short time. I hastily booked myself on a flight from Bangkok to Vientiane but my true final destination was the beautiful town of Luang Prabang. There in this beautiful town, the people were most gentle, gracious and wonderful and the quality of conservation of the many temples was absolutely stunning. Those who love woven fabric too will fall in love with what Luang Prabang has to offer. I hope that this new route by Lao Airlines prove to be viable and more people could be enticed to visit Laos via Singapore. KC Sim

Until an official statement is issued to confirm the true situation - hopefully in a language that clearly spells out the deal and not some ambiguous spin - our discussion here is purely speculative. In any case, it is sad to see Malaysia Airlines in its current state. How many bailouts is needed to keep this airline afloat? How many turnaround plans have been undertaken? How many rounds of asset sales have already taken place? And how many rounds of route cuts? Perhaps one could even ponder how many times the airline has to reconsider its A380 fleet viability. Personally I am not so certain that all associated with the Tune Group arrive at the table with the noble intentioin to rescue Malaysia Airlines. The past bad blood between both airlines is well known and the battle for certain destinations has been publicly fought. With a relatively affordable investment by the Tune Group, it is perhaps in a position to cherry pick what they want from the deal - destinations such as Sydney, curtail the growth of Firefly and eventually send it into extinction. While the trend elsewhere has been full-service carriers establishing new LCC subsidiaries (SIA, ANA, Qantas etc), here we are seeing an LCC bailing out a full-service carrier. Talk about turning the tables in the war between full service carriers and LCCs. MAS' woes have been well discussed in Mwings over the years ... and sadly, the airline has not made any real improvements beyond some consoling marketing spin. One can only wonder what's the fate of MAS' plans to join oneworld. Most importantly, what will MAS gain OR LOSE from Tune Group's interest and stake in it. These are interesting times for MAS ... recent discussion here regarding MAS' ability to afford higher staffing levels because labour is cheap is probably put to rest. If MAS is able to work with a trimmer and more productive workforce and achieve staffing levels comparable to its leaner competitors, perhaps its balance sheet would have less red ink. KC Sim

London-Heathrow and Zurich are inevitable as both have strong demand for business class seats. And if SIA sends the low-density A380 to CDG, it will certainly impact on Air France's business class load ... with a little mercy show to its economy class. But this is where it really hurts if AF loses business class customers to the A380. Originally, AF had plans to deploy the A380 to NRT followed by SIN ... somewhere between announcing it and getting the first A380 1.5 years later, the management changed it mind. A pity - the AF A380 is quite a pretty whale. KC Sim

Someday, I hope that AirAsia will decide on a different colour for each of its regional subsidiary. It is fine if they keep the same style but just a different colour for Thai AirAsia (purple), Indonesia AirAsia (brown - like Indonesian batik), Japan AirAsia (gold), Philippine AirAsia (yellow), Vietnam AirAsia (blue) etc. That way, we will not get bored during spotting sessions. Here in SIN, we get to see so many AirAsia of the same basic livery and often don't even raise the camera to the eye when we see that signature red patch on final approach (of course, this results in last minute panic when 9M-AFC turns up and we see the gold medal at the last minute). We now have five LCCs operating between SIN and the Philippines - Jetstar, Tiger, SEAir, AirPhil Express, Cebu Pacific - alongside services by Philippine Airlines and SIA. Wonder if Philippine AirAsia will join the fray. KC Sim

My dear Malaysian friends ... if only you know how jealous we are when we see you folks having all that home-based special liveries, all those wonderful Middle-eastern traffic, special liveried planes from Gulf Air, Etihad, all those great stuff of unimaginable liveries going in and out of Subang. But thanks to Mwings, we too are able to enjoy them ... of course with our skins turning into a shade of green. Keep those great shots coming ... and if you can, please send A6-EYE to SIN sometime please. KC Sim

Kian Hong may be right ... we now had the time over the past few days to look at all the comments that brought us so much laughs, and see a pattern that is consistent. The way the names of those "famous people" appears and even those "self-praise" by Jivesh or CHANDER apeear in similar fashion. To set the record a little less crooked, it seems like this entire laughable episode is the work of a group of spotters who have banded together with a common hate for Jivesh CHANDER. It is sad that the technology that surrounds us today - insted of facilitating good work - is used to perpetuate pranks, hateful postings and other less than honourable deeds - and I have a pretty good idea who these rogue spotters are. They come from pretty good backgrounds, pretends to be bloody smart, some of them weird in their own ways and are all competing to be "famous" in every place where they could dump their pictures. So for the record, I will say that there is sufficient indications that Jivesh CHANDER is not the person behind these famous comments and is a likely victim of it. I hope this clears Jivesh and opens our eyes to the likely abuse of the internet by a mis-guided few. And to those who posted those comments : SHAME ON YOU, BECAUSE YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE. A FEW OF YOU HAVE EVEN POSTED YOUR COMMENTS TO MY ORIGINAL POST IN NINERVICTOR.COM ... and I know who you are. KC Sim

Thanks Sri Ramani for highlighting the N. Razak "comments" too. That one escaped me. It is indeed a very sorry picture with this spotter ... whom those who were in SIN for Mwings' 5th Anniversary met. Having to create all these fictitious comments and even praising himself (sometimes carelessly using his own name to praise himself) is absolutely the pinnacle of being pathetic, delusional and sad. I hope that the rest of us could stay grounded in our hobby and indulge in it solely for the purpose of enjoying it and for the friendships that we forge along the way. KC

Wilson Loh : Just type in "changi" in the password box. Indeed, it must also be an hounour for all of us to share a common hobby with all those world leaders, airline chiefs and other celebrities. I was taken aback by the calibre of people posting comments ... a case of "too good to be true". Andrew Hunt : How come you never "gathered" such accolades To me, the funniest one is the comment from Kim Jong-Il, who does not even fly and prefers to take the train. And he commented that he has heard of CHANDER's photography skills ... wonder from whom. Perhaps Fidel Castro or Vladimir Putin ... they were discussing CHANDER's pictures at some UN Summit. At this point, I am still trying to understand the sense behind this entire episode. Fancy Tony Fernandes being so excited about that shot of two of his A320s at Changi (a scene that is repeated many times each day) ... has he ever commented about any picture here in Malaysianwings? KC Sim

Not directly related to spotting in Singapore ... but a lively discussion going on in www.ninervictor.com about the praises that a Singapore photographer "earned" from world leaders, royalty, airline CEOs etc. http://www.ninervictor.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4409&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0 KC Sim

BINGO !!! Royal Brunei Airlines was established just to give the sultanate a "flag carrier" ... and for years, I don't remember them ever opening its financial data to anyone. And I don't think it has made any form of profit for most of its existence. For a while, it seems they were beginning to be commercially-driven with its fleet of B757s anad B767s ... and then they are where they are today. It makes me wonder how Royal Brunei Airlines will survive ... does the airline even have a strategy to carve out its own niche? I sure hope the airline survives ... having memory of myself thoroughly enjoying its service on the FRA-DXB-BKK sector in 1996 ... and also having fond memories of photographing its beautiful planes. KC Sim

His lawyer is asking the court to be lenient just so that his application for PR in Australia will not be jeopardise ... do you think the Australian judiciary is keen to facilitate this? Why would Australia need another troublesome person on the street? Obviously such a family is used to pushing others around and you cannot begin to imagine how much grief they have previously given to MAS crews. I am always an advocate of strong reaction by crew members to disorderly passengers who not only threaten the peace onboard but could also cause fear and distress among other passengers (especially elderly, children and those who are unwell). Another pat on the back for the MH crew. Knowing what the Islamic guidance on consumption of alcohol ... I can only imagine the awkwardness in the following situation: Imagine the MH crew member is a dutiful Muslim who does not drink alcohol, who is well-informed about Islamic teachings and was requested by a Muslim passenger to serve alcohol. Would serving alcohol to this Muslim passenger make the crew member an "accomplice" to the wrong-doing or can the crew member instead request the "help" of a non-Muslim crew member in serving this passenger? Perhaps someone here is familiar with cabin crew training in MH and could cast some light on this. In any case, it must be really tough for cabin crew, their trainers and those formulating policies on service delivery. KC Sim

I used to collect all manners of stamps but for some years already, I have narrowed down to collecting aviation stamps. And this has proven to be extremely enjoyable and manageable at the same time. Hakan : I hope that you have managed to get for yourself the first day cover, presentation pack, and perhaps those complete sheets of each denomination stamps. Must congratulate Pos Malaysia for producing a beautiful commemorative item for aviation's centenary. KC Sim

Just to discuss a little about the dates. If Saturday on 30 June 2012 is the date, how keen are those going to Bangkok to consider the following: 29 June - arrive in Bangkok and stay at the Queens Garden Resort 30 June - photograph from rooftop of Queens Garden Resort from 0630hrs till around 1200hrs, adjourn for lunch and then proceed to afternoon spotting 01 July - photograph from rooftop of Queens Garden Resort from 0630hrs till around 1200hrs, adjourn for lunch and then proceed to afternoon spotting. Depart BKK in the evening. Home Sweet Home. That will give at least two full days of spotting. If one has booking on 29 June at Queens Garden Resort and arrives early in the morning, you could actually proceed to the hotel to check-in and proceed to rooftop for spotting until midday when your room becomes available. That way, you gain a full day's spotting on 29 June (Friday). KC Sim

SIA's A380 deployment to Johor Bahru Senai Airport was strictly for crew training involving many touch and gos, landings etc. The deployment to Kuala Lumpur was similarly for a combination of crew training, familiarisation and also to ensure KLIA is a suitable alternative airport. Both deployments do not carry commercial passengers, unlike the KE aircraft which are carrying passengers. SIA's actual first commercial flight was SQ380 on 25 October 2007 from Singapore to Sydney and back the next day. KC Sim

Superb shot of the French Air Force A310 ... I sure hope that sometime during this life-time, I too have the chance to go to Malta Luqa Airport for spotting. Seems like great fun, good weather and most importantly, very receptive airport management for constructing such a great spotting location. KC

Fully agree with Ignatius and Francis Lee ... there is little point investing heavily in fighters that will never see real service (and thank goodness for that). Instead, the investment should go into heavy transport planes and helicopters that could be used in disaster relief work ... or maritime patrol aircraft that could protect the sealanes around Malaysia (in co-operation with other ASEAN neighbours). KC Sim

Great pictures Hoe Jyh, absolutely wonderful to see you add yet another exotic airport to Mwings' Observation Hill. More pictures please!!! KC Sim

BKK first choice for me too .... with HAN or SGN a close second. KC Sim