KC Sim

There are three aircraft in the picture you refer to that DO NOT operate from Terminal One ... but they are nevertheless parked there. - Tiger Airways A320 (this operate from the Budget Terminal) - Singapore Airlines B777-200 (this operate from Terminal Two and Terminal Three) - Kingfisher A320 (this operates from Terminal Three) Depending on the availability of gates and parking stands available at their respective terminals, aircraft are sometimes parked elsewhere in the airport where parking stands are available. There is no occasion where a Tiger Airways flight is boarded at Terminal One because the Budget Terminal is full. KC Sim

How about 9M-MBA ... Malaysia's Biggest Airbus. KC Sim

Good News!!! The same Air Hongkong B744BCF is again headed to Penang tomorrow (10 June) departing Singapore at 1030hrs and returning to Singapore at 1730hrs. This means it is spending a longer time in Penang doing many touch-n-gos. Wish you better luck with weather and more chances to get good action shots. KC Sim

Final assembly of Malaysia Airlines' first Airbus A380 began in Toulouse on 7 June 2011. Below information is copied from the press release by Airbus. The final assembly process of an A380 is made up of five main phases. At the first station, front, central, and aft fuselages, wings, Horizontal and Vertical Tail Plane (HTP and VTP) are assembled. The aircraft is then moved to the second station where general tests on electric/hydraulic systems, mobile parts and landing gears are carried out while engines are also installed. During the third phase, final ground and first engines tests take place in dedicated facilities outside of the main building. Finally, the aircraft is ready for its first flight to Hamburg, Germany, where the A380 will receive its cabin and will be painted to MAS livery. Malaysia Airlines has six A380s on order with deliveries due to begin in 2012. KC Sim

Air France's opposition to Malaysia Airlines membership in Skyteam dates way before they even had the Qantas codeshare. KC Sim

HEADS-UP FOR PENANG SPOTTERS Air Hongkong's only B747-444BCF B-HUS is heading your way this afternoon to conduct crew training as LD095. It will depart Singapore at 1300hrs and return to Singapore at 2000hrs. Hope someone gets it doing its multiple touch-n-go. KC Sim

Both Mr Borghetti and Mr Goh confirmed that the negotiations that culminated in today's announcement and signing of the long term alliance and partnership took 10 months. So to the New ST reporter - No, it could not have been hammered out in less than 24 hours after oneworld announced MAS' entry into the alliance. Mr Peter Hartman, President and CEO of Air France - KLM confirmed that all partnership deals between them and MAS will remain effective. He said that AF-KLM was consulted and informed in advance on yesterday's announcement by oneworld. KC Sim

MAS' membership in oneworld is not the reason for this partnership between SIA and Virgin Australia ... it sure is tough news for Qantas. MAS' value to oneworld is far broader than the Australian market and if it could strengthen its Southeast Asian network and ensure maximum connectivity between incoming longhaul flights into KUL and flights from KUL to the rest of SE Asia, it would have justified its role in oneworld. This week has brought tremendous news for both SIA and MAS ... both are huge and positive surprises for me. I also hope that MAS will paint one of its A380 in the oneworld livery - if MAS does it quickly enough, it might just be the first in the world to paint an A380 in alliance livery - any of the three alliances. KC Sim

This is the news that Qantas certainly does not need! At the SIA-Virgin Australia media conference and signing ceremony, a new Straits Times reporter asked if this alliance was the result of yesterday's announcement of MAS' entry into oneworld .... hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha The synergy between SIA and VA is amazing and everyone attending the media event was convinced that this will present tremendous opportunities to both airlines. And there seems to be tremendous good chemistry between Goh Choon Phong and John Borghetti. While the Australia - USA transPacific route is not included in the code-share arrangement presented by this alliance, SIA hopes that this alliance will strengthen SIA's case for it. SIA did not discount the possibility of operating to more Australian cities and VA did not discount the possibility of operating its own metal to Singapore. SIA also emphasised that this alliance will also include the network of SilkAir. KC

Malaysia Airlines is expected to become a oneworld member in late-2012 and being sponsored by Qantas means that Qantaa will "hold hands" with MH to ensure that its back-room functions are totally in compliance with systems and processes in the alliance and its member airlines. It was a very funny day for me ... I turned up really early at 0720hrs at the oneworld alliance media briefing and breakfast on the sidelines of the 67th IATA Annual General Meeting and the first person to say hello was the Director of Corporate Development at MH. The moment I saw her name card, I immediately asked her: Do I take it that your presence here at a oneworld event indicates that MH is about to join oneworld? With a slight look of horror, she replied: At this point in time, I cannot comment on that. That answer was more telling than merely saying no. And of course, I immediately SMSed Jonathan Kong and TK. Good news like this just had to be shared. And at 0745hrs, oneworld formally announced Qantas' sponsorship of MH into oneworld. The rest ... as they say is history. KC Sim

Congratulations MH!!! I eat every single word I posted recently on the discussion on MH's membership at Skyteam ... I must say that given the very different corporate culture at MH and oneowrld airlines such as BA, QF and CX, I was sure oneworld was not the alliance for MH. But now, not only have I been proven wrong but Qantas is the sponsor for Malaysia Airlines' entry into oneworld. You can certain say that these make strange bed-fellows but today, nobody is complaining. I hope that this brings great improvements to Malaysia Airlines and KLIA's hub ambitions. It perhaps might also mean that Qantas might locate its Asian subsidiary in KLIA ... who knows right? This is one time I am happy to be proven wrong. KC Sim

Its Qantas with Changi, Qantas with Bangkok, Qantas and Batam, Qantas and Manila, Qantas and Rolls Royce, Qantas and undercarriage, Qantas and rats, Qantas and sudden loss of altitude ... you see the pattern? Qantas is the common denominator everywhere. In essence, it has in recent years been a love affair between Qantas and "incidents". Sure, one could say that the media is on Qantas' back but one must surely recognise that Qantas is having an unusually frequent encounter with incidents and is therefore frequently "fried" by the world's and Australian media - you could say there is no smoke without fire. KC Sim

I have always liked photographing planes with a yellow livery ... so you can imagine how much it thrilled me to learn that Air Hongkong is taking over B747-400BCFs from Cathay Pacific Cargo. And imagine my surprise and joy when I found out - belatedly - that its first service in Air Hongkong's (LD) livery is on the Hong Kong - Singapore route. Usually a pre-sunrise arrival, it arrives in shoot-able conditions only on Saturday morning ... and here it is - photographed this morning. Two major events - the Shangri-la Security Dialogue and the IATA 67th Annual General Meeting (this was moved to Singapore from Cairo due to political developments there) has resulted in a flurry of biz-jet traffic ... and here's one that I have not seen before - a Challenger CL600 from ZYB Lily Jet of China. Am I the only one who thinks the logo looks more like an orchid? Spotting among greeneries, one is never far from creepies and crawlies - no worry if it is the occasional butterly, dragonfly or bee. I have encountered snakes - which freaked me up big time - but yesterday was the first time I have seen a H U G E stag beetle. Can you imagine how scary it is if someone has to look at the images recorded by the security camera above the beetle! I leave you to shiver at the thought ... it already gave me the creeps just to photograph it from a short distance. KC Sim

No doubt water is a precious commodity ... but everyday, you will see the fire-tenders from the airport fire station spraying into thin air ... possibly to ensure that there are no bird's nests in there and that when required, these machines could still shoot. Yesterday (2 June) was a nice day to catch Finnair, which arrived in beautiful sunshine. OH-LQA operated the inaugural flight which arrived on 31 May and OH-LQC operated the next flight on 01 Jun with OH-LQG having the honours of operating the first flight to arrive in sunshine! And here it is ... Not to be outdone, Turkish Airlines sent its Airbus A330-300 with the new colours ...this livery is growing on me. I like the way it is placed on the tail. Most biz-jets are almost all-white ... which accounts for my lack of interest in this category of planes. It is not helped by the fact that I can't easily tell their make and model apart! Here is one with a little colour - thank goodness - a Gulfstream G550. KC Sim

Tiger Airways' indifferent attitude towards passengers when flights are disrupted, delayed or cancelled certainly does not make it a very popular company - even as its low prices continue to fill the planes. It has not grown fast enough to take up opportunities - unlike AirAsia - and news of the CEO offloading shares isn't comforting to investors. Thai Tiger - not unlike the Korean outfit it tried to establish a few years ago - seems destined for a difficult birth and hopefully will not be a still-born like the Korean attempt. Even the joint operation with SEAir seems to be plaqued by troubles ... not sure how much two A319s could do in the Filipino market. A token operation at best compared to the likes of Cebu Pacific and Airphil Express (I have tried and liked the service onboard Airphil Express). KC Sim

I just cannot imagine Malaysia Airlines joining an alliance that includes or is formed by El Al Israeli Airline. Politics and religion just would not allow for this to happen, regardless of the business case. KC Sim

Instead of KUL-JHB-KUL charter by Mwings, how about a SZB-SIN-SZB charter in June 2012 for Mwings' 7th Anniversary celebrations? KC Sim

Frankly, unless a new alliance is formed somewhere else in the world, it is hard to envisage Malaysia Airlines in any of the three existing alliances. One of the key criteria for joining an alliance is a good fit ... primarily a good network that adds new destinations and city-pairs to the alliance's existing coverage. There must also be a good fit in corporate culture and brand perception. And MH will have to also make major adjustment to ensure the its IT and many other operational processes are compatible with that already in use in the alliance. A key challenge faced by Malaysia Airlines now is timing ... a decade ago, it might still be able to pick its alliance but today, all three alliances have somehow covered the world pretty well. Star Alliance is definitely out of the question because just as KLIA faces an uphill task building its hub connectivity in between two existing and bigger hubs - Bangkok and Singapore, Malaysia Airlines will find it near impossible to gain a foothold in Star Alliance due to the existing membership of Thai Airways International (a founding member of Star Alliance) and Singapore Airlines. Skyteam would have been a very likely alliance for Malaysia Airlines had it made a more serious attempt to gain membership there. Its relationship with KLM was excellent and one might even say that MH already had half a foothold in Skyteam. There were rumblings about Air France's opposition to MH's membership in Skyteam but timely negotiations with KLM holding its hands could possibly have made progress. I personally feel that the door has slammed shut on MH when Skyteam accepted the membership of Vietnam Airlines and Garuda Indonesia. Contrary to an earlier post here, both airlines are not in the alliance to service VFR and O&D traffic - both VN and GA have ambitious hub plans indeed. Again, MH is sandwiched between two other existing members - a similar situation to Star Alliance. oneworld is the only alliance without a Southeast Asian partner ... but it has never admitted to having any loophole in its coverage in this region. Cathay Pacific Airways has always maintained that it provides coverage in this region and with Qantas, Jetstar Asia, Jetstar Pacific and Jetstar Airways (and the possibility of a QF subsidiary operating premium full service flights out of KUL or SIN) now increasingly looking at intra-Asian city pairs, I doubt MH is welcomed there at all. Qantas once flirted with the idea of purchasing a stake in MH but I personally felt that action never came close to becoming a reality. Maybe MH could band together with a couple of Middle-eastern carriers (but not EK, QR and EY) that do not have ill-feelings for one another ... and grab a couple more airlines around the globe to form the world's fourth alliance. But it has to learn from the failed efforts of Qualiflyer which grouped airlines such as Swiss, Sabena, Austrian, Crossair, TAP etc ... in essence, a band of loss-making airlines. Till this day, I do not know what kind of business model this group had that made it think a band of losers could come together to form an alliance of winners For too long, Malaysia Airlines have taken the high road and said that it does not see value in alliance membership and was confident that its basket of interline and special pro-rate agreements with many airlines is sufficient. JAL did the same but soon - but perhaps not soon enough - realised its mistake and quickly entered oneworld. Emirates take the same high road ... but it has the fiscal and physical muscle to go alone. I have still not seen any serious statement from MH indicating the airline is making a concerted effort to gain membership in any alliance. Any statement made thus far seemed to sound hesitant, exploratory and unconvinced. KC Sim

A series of great posts by Francis Lee (flee)! Thanks for that. SIA's announcement has set the entire media world alight ... much like the 4 July fireworks in the US. It is amazing how SIA has managed to stun everybody - given its seemingly lethargic disposition in the last few years. By most account, the travel and aviation industrys - along with their media counterparts - seem to see this as a bold strategic move in the right direction. More information is likely to emerge in the very near future - I bet you we will not have to wait for a long time. It is better for SIA to keep up the momentum it has now created and release more information before any mis-information begin to cloud the picture. Keep your eyes on this thread. KC Sim

I think Taipei will continue to be an SIA destination and not one that will be relinquished to this new carrier. There are tonnes of other destinations that don't include the very few that the incumbent LCC operate to. Frankly, even if this new LCC operates to Taipei, would you rather fly on the widebody aircraft of this new airline or the A320s of Tiger Airways and Jetstar Asia Airways? And with the bigger capacity, do you think Tiger / Jetstar Asia could compete on low costs on the same sector? Taipei is not a route that anybody in the right frame of mind would go into now (if you do not already have a foothold there) ... to begin with, it always has been a low-yield destination. Secondly, there will be a total of six airlines operating on this route by 1 July 2011 - China Airlines, EVA Airways Corporation, Jetstar Asia Airways, Singapore Airlines, Tiger Airways, TransAsia Airways. There are loads of Indian destinations - Ahmedabad and Amritsar among them along with those in the middle east (such as Amman, Teheran, Beirut), in Europe and perhaps even as far away as Honolulu. If there is any competition with Tiger or Jetstar Asia, it will be minimal but given the widebody aircraft that this new airline will operate, those operating narrow bodied aircraft on sectors in excess of 3 hours stand to lose their edge. KC Sim

No conflict with Tiger Airways here. The new subsidiary will be a medium- and long-haul LCC (just like AirAsia X). KC Sim

This just has to happen ... with news of AirAsia (or AirAsiaX) and Qantas all eyeing a foothold in Singapore! What we now know is that this new subsidiary airline : - will be operating wide-body aircraft - will be operating on medium- and long-haul routes - will have a different corporate branding from SIA and be managed independently - will be operational within a year This is probably the most exciting new for Singapore-based aviation enthusiasts in a very very long time. And I suspect that some of the less well-performing destinations in the current SIA network may be off-loaded to this subsidiary, along with new destinations. Perhaps destinatins such as Athens may be served by this new airline and I am hoping for Honolulu to come online ... just a wish but who knows? And I hope that the livery is something far more exciting than that of boring SilkAir! KC Sim

WADS Airbus has delivered yet another Airbus A332 to Australia for MRTT-conversion. Consistent with earlier deliveries, the aircraft still wears only a basic primer and it totally devoid of any identification markings except for its Spanish registration - EC336. It staged through Changi Airport on 24 May 2011. AirAsia provided me with a WOW! moment on 23 May when it sent 9M-AFK. Love the gold/red livery which looked like an inversion of the Shenzhen Airlines livery. But what is this WOW! about? What does it commemorate or celebrate? KC Sim

Francis : You cannot possibly not devote more time to spotting at AMS when you are there. The subjects you get there are mind-boggling and your only problem is having enough batteries and CF cards. Just so that you are able to salivate more profusely ... and also able to track what to expect each day when you are there, here's a most useful link: http://schiphol.dutchplanespotters.nl/ I just could not stop shooting all the KLM aircraft - especially the F70s and F100s (knowing that by the time I next go to AMS, they might be gone). Luckily I shot many of the F50s when I was previously at AMS. I shall try to process more images from AMS to further whet your appetite. KC Sim

Congratulations Kanehoshi-san as you add a little one to your family. I guess you now have to devote more time to taking care of your wife and son ... but we will surely enjoy the fruits of whatever you could photograph. Great shot of the AN-2 ... you cannot imagine how much memory that brings. I saw An-2s for the first and last time ... in Ulan Bator in 2003. I was very envious when Vernon mentioned he was with you when he photographed the AN-2 ... and hope to join him in spotting in SGN someday. Warmest greetings to you and your family. KC Sim